Science Wonder Quarterly v01n01 (1929 Fall)

Science

Over the Mountains

from Los Angeles

Gallons.'/ GAS

I hink of it! FIVE HUNDRED FIFTY-NINE MILES over rough mountainous country burning
only ELEY EN GALLONS OF GASOLINE. Imagine more than FIFTY MILES to the GALLON.
This is what the WHIRLWIND CARBURETING DEVICE does for D. R. Gilbert, enough of a
saving on just one trip to more thstn pay the cost of the Whirlwind.

The Whirlwind Saves Motorists

B

Millions Of Dollars Yearly

Whirlwind users, reporting the results of their tests, are amazed at the results they are getting. Letters keep streaming into the office telling
ot mileages all the way from 22 to t>9 miles on a. gallon, resulting in a saving of from 25 to 50% in gas hills alone.

Mark H. Estes writes : “I was making 17 Indies to the gallon on my Pontiac Coupe. Today, with the Whirlwind, I, am making 35 5/10 miles

to the gallon. Am I glad I put it on? I ]l. say .so!”

...I’- P- Gnerzen writes:. “I made an actual test both with and without a Whirlwind, getting 1 miles without and 36 4/10 miles with the

Whirlwind, or a gain of 21 miles to the gallon. The longer the Whirlwind is in use on the machine, the better the engine runs, has more pep and

quicker starting. It qiaSeh.a new engirfe out of an old one, and starts at the touch of the starter button.”

, R- J- Tulp: “The Whirlwind increased the mileage on our Ford truck from 12 to 26 miles to gallon and 25% in speed. We placed another on

a Willy s Knight, and increased from 12 to 17 miles per gallon.

Arthur Grant: “I have an Oakland touring car that has been giving me 15 miles to the gallon average. butT'can see a great difference with

the Whirlwind, as it climbs the big hills on high and gives me better than 23 miles to the gallon of gas, which is better than 50% saving in gas.”

\\ . A. Scott: I had niv Whirlwind for three years. Winter and summer it gives the same perfect service, instant starting, smoother running,

and what I saved in gasoline these last few years has brought other luxuries which I could not have afforded previously."

Car owners all over the world are saving money every day with the Whirlwind, besides having better operating motors. Think what this means
on your own. Figure up your savings— enough for a radio— a bank account— added pleasure. Why let the Oil Companies profit by Vour waste
Find out about this amazing little device that will pay for itself every few weeks in gas saving alone.

FITS ALL CARS

In just a few minutes the Whirlwind can he installed on any make
of car, truck or tractor. It’s actually less work than changing your
oil, or putting water in the battery. No drilling, tapping or changes
of any kind necessary. It is guaranteed to work perfectly on any make
of car, truck or tractor, large or small, new model or old model. The
more you drive the more you will save.

SALESMEN AND DISTRIBUTORS
WANTED

Free Sample and $100.00 a Week Offer

Whirlwind men are making big profits supplying this fast-selling device
that car owners cannot afford to be without. Good territory is still
open. Free sample offer and full particulars sent on request. Just
check the coupon.

WHIRLWIND MANUFACTURING CO.
999-51-E Third Street Milwaukee, Wise.

GUARANTEE

No matter what kind of £ car you have — no matter how big a gas
eater it is — the Whirlwind will save you money. We absolutely guar-
antee that the Whirlwind •.will more than save its cost in gasoline alone
within thirty days, or the trial will cost you nothing. We invite you
to test it at our risk and expense. You are to he the sole judge.

FREE TRIAL COUPON

r-

■

■

■

■

■

9

WHIRLWIND MANUFACTURING CO.

999-51-E Third Street, Milwaukee, Wise.

Gentlemen: You may send me full particulars of your Whirl-

wind Carbureting device and free trial offer. This does not obli-
gate me in any way whatever.

Name

Address

City

County

Q Check here if you
position.

State

interested in full or part time salesmen

Amazingly Easy Way

to get into ELECTRICITY

Don’t spend your life waiting for $5 raises in a dull, hopeless job. Now
forever . . . say g<
you how to qualify

up, a week, in Electricity— NOT by correspondence, but by an amaz-

spei

. . . and forever
me show

lopel

say good-bye to 25 and 35 dollars a week. Let
" y for jobs leading to salaries of $50, $60 and

ing way to teach, that makes you an electrical expert in 90 days!

Getting into Electricity is far easier than you imagine!

Learn Without Lessons 90 DAYS

Lack of experience — age, or ad-
vanced education bars no one.

I don’t care if you don't know
an armature from an air
brake— I don’t expect you
tol I don’t care if you’re |

16 yearsold or 48— itmakes
nodifference ! Don’ tlet lack
of money stop you. Mostof .

the men at Coyne have no
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Railroad Fare
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fi

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est outlay of electrical ap-
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any electrical school. . . costing hun-
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dynamos, engines, power plants, au-
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to farm power and lighting . . . full-
sized. . . in full operation every day!

NoBookS'NoPrlntedLessons

No books, no baffling charts ... all
real actual work ... right here in
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COYNE

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Prepare tor Jobe
Like These

Hare are a few of hundreds of
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Armature Expert, to $100 aWk.
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Auto Electrioian $110 a Week

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up to $150 a Week
Service Station Owner

up to $200 a Week
Radio Expert up to $100 a Week

real batteries . . . winding real
armatures, operating real mo-
tors, dynamos and generators,
wiring houses, etc., etc.
i That’s a glimpse of how

tical electrician in 90 clays,
teachingyouf ar more than
the average ordinary elec-
trician ever knows and fit-
, ting you to step into jobs
I leading to big pay immedi-
ately after graduation.
Here, in this world-famous
Parent school — and no-
where else in the world —
canyon get such training!

JobS'Pay'Futnre

Dont’ worry about a job,
Coyne training settles the
job question for life. De-
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wherein is installed
thousands of dollars*
worth of the newest
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clusive teaching of prac-
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world. E very oomfort and
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employment bureau gives you a lifetime
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Clyde F. Hartgot a position as electrician
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$60 a week is only the beginning of your op-
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GET THE FACTS

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Get This

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Kiii

ELECTRICAL SCHOOL

H. C. LEWIS, Pres.

Dept. 7?-85 ■ Chicago, Illinois

Mr. H. C. LEWIS, President

COYNE ELECTRICAL SCHOOL, Dept. 79-85

SO* 8. Paulina St., Chicago, 111.

Dear Mr. Lewis:

Without obli ration send me your big free catalog; and
Bit details of Railroad Fare to Chicago, Free Employ,
ment Service, Radio, Aviation Electricity, and Anto-

i while learning. **

motive Courses, and how I can 'earn:

Name.

Established 1899 I Addreee.

Citu .

State .

Morris, 111.

SCIENCE WONDER QFARTERLY la published on the 15th dw or
September, December, March and June, 4 numbers per year. Sub-
acr lotion price is I1.T5 • year in United States and its poaseasiona. In
Canada and foreign coentries. $2.00 a year. Single copies 50c. Ad-
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SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY— Application for second class
entry, in Post Office at Mt. Morris, 111., under act of March 8. 1879,
pending. Title registered U. 8. Patent Office. Trademarks and copy-
rights by permission of Gernaback Publications. Inc. 98 Park Place.
New York City, owner of all trademark rights. Copyright 1929, by
G. P., Inc. Text and Illustrations of this magazine are copyright and
must not be reproduced without permission of the copyright owners.
SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY is for sale at principal news-

STELLAR PUBLISH

PublitatlM Office, 404 N. Wwlcy Ave., Mt. Morrli, IIIImIi.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FALL

1929

Publication O:

404 North Wesley Ave.,

Editorial and General Offices :

96-98 Park Place, New York City.

Published by

STELLAR PUBLISHING CORPORATION
H. GERNSBACK, Pres.

I. S. MANHEIMER, Secy. S. GERNSBACK, Tresu.

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

By Otto Willi Gail 6

THE ARTIFICIAL MAN

By Clare Winger Harris 78

THE HIDDEN WORLD

By Edmond Hamilton 84

THE GRAVITATIONAL DEFLECTOR

By Harry D. Parser 130

OUR COVER ILLUSTRATION

Depicts an exciting episode from Otto Willi Gail's novel "The
Shot Into Infinity.”

Here we see the spaceship Geryon plunging towards the
moon. The moon may be observed at the right-hand side, still a
great distance away.

In the position shown, the spaceship is rushing ahead at a tre-
mendous speed, yet it is possible for the adventurers to venture
outside the spaceship in airtight and eold-insulated space-suits.
The men are connected to the spaceship by lengths of thin tele-
phone wires, by means of which they can converse with each other.
Inasmuch as they are in the so-called "free-fall,” there is no
strain on the light telephone wires, which they also use to pull
themselves back to the ship. They may also return to the ship by
firing pistols, as is also shown, in the opposite direction to which
they wish to traveL

itands in the United States and Canada. European agents, Brentano’s.
London and Paris. Printed in U. S. A.

IP YOU WISH TO SUBSCRIBE to SCIENCE WONDER QUAR-
TERLY. make out all remittances to the Stellar Publishing Corp.
Be sure to mention the name of magazine you wish to subscribe for,
as we are also agent* for the following magazine*: RADIO-CRAJT.
AIR WONDER STORIES and SCIENCE WONDER STORIES. Sub-
scriptions can be made in combination with the above publications, at
a reduced club rate. Ask for information. Subscriptions start with
current issue. WHEN YOUR SUBSCRIPTION EXPIRES, we en-
close a renewal blank in the lest number. No subscriptions continued
unless renewal remittance received. Change of Address: Always give
us old as well as new address and notify us as far in advance as
possible.

IN G CORPORATION

Editorial and General Offices, 96-98 Park Place. New York City

V

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

3

Half a Million People

have learned music this easy way

VT’ES, half a million delighted
men and women all over the
world have learned music this
quick, easy way.

Half a million — 500,000 — what
a gigantic orchestra they would
make! Some are playing on the
stage, others in orchestras, and
many thousands are daily enjoying
the pleasure and popularity of be-
ing able to play some instrument.

Surely this is convincing proof
of the success of the new, modern
method perfected by the U. S.
School of Music ! And
what these people
have done, YOU, too,
can do !

Many of this half
million didn’t know
one note from another
— others had never
touched an instrument
— yet in half the usual
time they learned to
play their favorite in-
strument. Best of all,
they found learning
music amazingly easy.

No monotonous hours
of exercises — no tedious scales —
no expensive teachers. This sim-
plified method made learning music
as easy as A-B-C !

It is like a fascinating game.
From the very start you are play-

ing real tunes perfectly by note.
You simply can’t go wrong, for
every step, from beginning to end,
is right before your eyes in print
and picture. First you are told
how to do a thing, then a picture
shows you how, then you do it
yourself and hear it. And almost
before you know it you are playing
your favorite pieces — jazz, bal-
lads, classics. No private teacher
could make it clearer. Little
theory — plenty of accomplishment!
That’s why students of the U. S.

School of Music get
ahead twice as fast —
three times as fast as
those who study' old-
fashioned, plodding
methods.

You don’t need any
special “talent.”
Many of the half mil-
lion who have already
become accomplished
players never dreamed
they possessed musical
ability. They only
wanted to play some
instrument — just like
you — and they found they could quickly
learn how this easy way. Just a little
of your spare time each day is needed —
and you enjoy every minute of it. The
cost is surprisingly low — averaging only
a few cents a day — and the price is the
same for whatever instrument you
choose. And remember you are studying

right in your own home — without pay-
ing big fees to private teachers.

Don’t miss any more good times!
Learn how to play your favorite instru-
ment and surprise all your friends.
Change from a wallflower to the center
of attraction. Music is the best thing to
offer at a party — musicians are invited
everywhere. Enjoy the popularity you
have been missing. Get your share of
the musician’s pleasure and profit! Start
now!

Free Booklet and Demonstration
Lesson

If you are in earnest about wanting to
join the crowd of entertainers and be a
“big hit” at any party — if you really do
want to play your favorite instrument, to
become a performer whose services will be
in demand — fill out and mail the convenient
coupon asking for our Free Booklet and
Free Demonstration Lesson. These -ex-
plain our wonderful method fully and show
you how easily and quickly you can learn to
play at little expense. The booklet will also
tell you all about the amazing new Auto-
matic Finger Control. Instruments are sup-
plied when needed — cash or credit. U. S.
School of Music, 403-H Brunswick Bldg.,
New York City.

U. S. SCHOOL OF MUSIC

403-H Brunswick Bldg., New York City.

Please send me your free book, “Music Lessons in
Your Own Home,” with introduction by Dr. Frank
Crane, ; Free Demonstration Lesson, and particulars
of your easy payment plan. I am interested in the
following course:

Have you above instrument?

Name

(Please Write Plainly)

Address
City

What Instrument
for You?

Piano Guitar

Organ Piccolo

Violin Hawaiian

Banjo (Plec- Steel
trum, 5- Guitar

String or Drums and
Tenor) Traps

Clarinet Mandolin

Flute Sight Singing

Harp Ukulele

Cornet Saxophone

’Cello

Voice and Speech Culture
Automatic Finger Control
Piano Accordion
Italian and German
Accordion

State

4

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

‘350 a month ‘500 a month \ ‘450 a month

“I lee! proud of my success in Radio
to date. My profit during the last two
months amounts to $700. 1 am making
good and 1 have not finished my
N. R. 1. course yet. 1 am grateful for
your training and co-operation to date
and look forward to still bigger success
when 1 graduate.” i

Clarence Heffelfinger,

"'“When I enrolled with the N. R. I., I
was a motorman on a trolley car. Now
I have a fine, fast-growing Radio busi-
ness. When only half way through the
course started bringing in extra money.
I made $420 in my spare time. Now I
have a bank account of $2800 and about
' $300 worth of stock. It has all come
from Radio since graduating less than
six months ago. I cannot begin to ex-
press my thanks to you and all those
connected with N. R. I. for what you
have done for me.”

Richard Butler, 353$ Sheffield St.,
Philadelphia, Pa.

“In addition to my regular work in
what I believe to be the largest and best
equipped Radio Shop in the Southwest,
I am now operating K.GFI. I am proud
of the fact that I installed and put'
KGFI on the air without help of any-
one except the N. R. I. Iam averaging
$450 per month.” _ ....

„„ „ _ . . Frank M. Jones,

922 -Guadalupe St., - Angelo. Tex..

READ what Big 1 Money

my men make m RADIO

$350, $450, $500 a month. That’s making real money.
What business other than Radio offers such oppor-
tunities after si* to twelve month? training? None
that I know of. More proof — last year electricians,
farmers, mechanics, clerks, railroad men, book-
keepers, preachers, doctors, and men from 78 other
trades and professions enrolled with me *o prepare
for the Radio field.

Big Growth Making Many Big Jobs

A WONDERFUL business, you will say, to make
men trained for other fields, give them up for
Radio. Yes, but they had their eyes wide open. They
know what you and I know — that big growth makes
big jobs and many opportunities to earn big money.
Heffelfinger, Jones, and Butler couldn’t make any-
thing like this money before, although they probably
worked just as hard — maybe harder. Trained men
are needed for the big jobs the amazing growth of
Radio is creating.

Salaries Up To $250 a Week

TX7HY go along at $25, $30, $35 a week when the
’ * good Radio jobs pay $50 to $250 a week? Cut
loose from drudgery, small pay, no-future jobs. Get
into a live-wire field that offers you a real chance,'
You don’t need a high school or college education to.
become a Radio Expert. Many of my most successful
graduates didn’t finish the grades.

Practical Experience With Course

T GIVE you six big" outfits of Radio parts. With
them you can build and experiment with one hun-
dred different circuits — learn the “how” and “why”
of practically, every type of set made. This makes
learning easy, interesting, fascinating, your training
complete. Nothing else equals .my method.

TELEVISION also Included

YOUR knowledge of Radio will’ be right up to the
* minute with Radio’s progress and inventions when!
you take my training. Television, the new field for
Radio experts, is included. Not one system for
sending and receiving pictures by Radio, but all of
them — Jenkin’s, Cooley’s, Bell’s, Baird’s, Belin’s,
Alexanderson’s.

Television can easily and quickly become as large
as the whole Radio industry is today Broadcasting
stations will soon need trained men, so will manufac-
turers for the designing and building of sending and
receiving sets. It won’t wait for you. Get ready quick!

I GIVE YOUTHE RADIO
PARTS FOR A
HOME EXPERIMENTAL
LABORATORY

1 Willi fcara
ISm^Home
istl&rar

WITH THEM YOU
CAN BUILD IOO
CIRCUITS. 4 YOU
BUILD ARE SHOWN
HERE. MY BOOK
EXPLAINS THIS
PRACTICAL FASCIN-
ATING WAY OF
LEARNING RADIO

N O NEED to leave home.

Hold your job, give me
one-half to one hour a day
of your spare time. In six to twelve months you
can be a trained Radio Expert, ready to step into
a new job with a real future.

$10 to $50 a Week While Learning

AyTANY of my students f make $10, $20, $30 a
week extra while learning. I teach you to
begin making money shortly after you enroll.
G. W. Page, 1807 21st St., Nashville, Tenn.,
lhade $935 in his spare time. /

Money Back It Not Satisfied
KNOW the kind of training you need. I have
put hundreds of men and young men ahead.
I am so sure that I can satisfy you too that I will
agree to refund your money if you are not satis-
fied when you complete my course.

Find Out What Radio Otters Yon
TV/TY 64-page book explaining
where the big jobs are

and what you can make is | —

FREE. Mail coupon. ,

No obligation.

Address: Dept. 9XAt
J. E. Smith, Pres.,

Nat’l Radio Institute,

Washington, C>. C.

Send this Coupon

J. E. Smith, President,

Dept.. 9 XAVI Nation*! Radio Institute^ , v

Washington, D. C.

Dear Mr. Smith: — Send me your book,'- 1 want to know about
the opportunities in Radio and your practical method, of teach-
ing at home with six big outfits of Radio parts. This request
does not obligate me to enroll.

1?4JM .......... Age . ...

Address

Cfty State... t

THIS IS RADIO S BIGGEST YEAR

Science

d*p* k

Quarterly

FALL

1929

tlfll ill/ ASTRONOMY BOTANY "HSgSgg

tJJI I l| 1 / Professor Samuel A Rarfim Professor Elinor G. Canipbell

ill. 1/ rl ;*T Observatory, University of Pennsyl- Ferguson. Pll.0.

Utt - Wellesley College

Or. Clyde Fisher, Ph.D., LL.D. Professor C. E. Owens ^

Curator, The American Museum of Natural Oregon Agricultural College
History. 8 CHEMISTRY

Pl H??STrt'r I iJ!i i * m nh Luy *? n ’ Pll-D- Dean^ehwf^rf* Chemistry and Physics

Harrard College Observatory Pennsylranla College

u M.n«| 81 ?h°n HV8IC8 o— „ . MATHEMATICS , . . PHYSICS

H. Menzel, Ph.D. Professor C. Irwin Palmer Professor A. L. Fitch

Observatory. University of Callfarnla Dean of Students University of Maine

_ .FLECTHICITY Armour Institute of Technology PSYCHOLOGY

r F. E. Austin Professor James Byrnle Shaw rovi.nui.utiT

rly of Dartmouth College University of rilinois Dr. Marjorie E. Babcock

„ ENTOMOLOGY Professor Waldo A. Tltsworth, S.M. Acting Directm-, Psychological Clinic.

M. Wheeler Alfred University. University of HawaiL

Bussey Institution for Research in

Id Biology, Harvard University. MEDICINE ZOOLOGY

PHYSICS AND RADIO Or. David H. Keller Dr. Joseph G. Yoshloka

doFerest, Ph.D., D.Sc. Western State Hospital Illinois State Institute for Juvenile I

These nationally-known educators pass upon the scientific principles of all stories.

$500.00 IN PRIZES

IITH the next three issues of Science
Wonder Quarterly, the publishers will,,
give $500.00 in prizes to the winners of
an entirely new contest in which every
reader of this magazine can join.

I In publishing a number of science-fic-

plished, and we are willing to pay $500.00 in prizes
for the best efforts in this endeavor.

The prize contest might, therefore, be headed by
the caption, “What I Have Done to Spread Science
Fiction. ’ ’

In every issue for the next three numbers, three
prizes will be given, as follows :

FIRST PRIZE — $100.00
SECOND PRIZE — $ 50.00
THIRD PRIZE — $ 20.00

A total of over $500.00 for the three next issues of
the Quarterly. The closing dates for these contests
will be Nov. 15, 1929; Feb. 15, 1930! May 15, 1930.

It will be run as follows: In the Winter, 1929;

Spring, 1930 ; Summer, 1930 issues of Science Wonder
Quarterly we will award the prizes for the best
letters, with the accompanying proofs, of what
our readers have done to convert others to
science fiction. The efforts that our readers put
forth may be in the way of talks before clubs or school
classes, letters written to friends or relatives, letters
to local newspapers, etc. The proofs and letters that
are offered should be as conclusive as possible ; in order
that the editors may really judge adequately the merits
of the contestants. The proofs may be clippings from
newspapers, letters from editors, friends, relatives, sub-
scriptions obtained, etc. All material in this contest
must be addressed to Editor, Prize Letter Contest,
Science Wonder Quarterly. Understand that this is
not a subscription contest. Our purpose is only to con-
vert others to the cause of science fiction.

The first series of prizes and the letters will be pub-
lished in the December issue of Science Wonder Quar-
terly. The prizes will be based on the evidence offered
and the sincerity and enthusiasm of the contestants as
expressed in their letters. No letter should be longer
than 500 words. In case of a tie, an identical prize
will be paid to the contestants so tied.

tion magazines, the editors feel that they have a great
mission to perform ; their mission being to get the great
mass of readers, not only to think what the world in the
future is likely to become, but also to become better
versed in things scientific.

But it is impossible for us to succeed in our mission
unless our science-fiction Teaders preach the gospel of
science fiction, wherever and whenever they have a
chance to do so.

The select group of science-fiction readers which now
exists is a marvelous nucleus for the far greater mass
of readers that are yet to come. It would seem to be
a great privilege for the present group to spread the
new gospel far and wide.

Many readers are, of course, doing this already; but
they are not anywhere near numerous enough, and it is
for this purpose that we are inaugurating this prize
contest. All we are interested in at the present time
is to spread the gospel of science fiction.

For instance, one youngster of only twelve writes and
tells us how, in the boys ’ club he belongs to, and in his
science classes at school, he often reads the stories
from our magazines aloud to the great enjoyment and
delight of his listeners. There are also in existence
several clubs whose prime purpose it is to discuss sci-
ence fiction and, in addition, to contribute stories and
letters to the science-fiction magazines. Recently an-
other young man was instrumental in having his local
newspaper reprint a number of science-fiction stories;
which is another way to get the public science-fiction-
minded. There are, of course, any number of schemes
by which the spread of science fiction can be accom-

The Next Issue of SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY
- — . Will Be on Sale 0 % December 15, 1929

pi

<mi * |

Uiill

They told about the devil’s work on the plateau. The earth had been tom up, a hellish'
glow had flooded the mountains and everyone thought it was the end of the world.

6

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

I

PREFACE

(Which may be read through or not)

W HEN the ingenious Jules Verne wrote his
“Journey to the Moon,” he did not suspect
how soon this problem w'ould engage the
attention of serious physicists. What he consciously
treated as a fantastic utopia is to-day close to
realization, and perhaps the first
rocket is hissing on its way into
space before this book leaves the
press.

The “Shot Into Infinity” is no
utopia. The technical basis of
the novel rests on the results of
the most modern research and
physical facts, and it is nothing
but the development of the prac-
tical applications of discoveries
which are no longer questioned
to-day.

Very often persons who unde-
niably possess a certain degree of
judgment have asked me, with
a superior and almost pitying
smile, whether I seriously believe
that someday people might be
able to leave
the earth. Once
and for all let
this question be
answered
in this place by
a counter ques-
tion Why not?

In the final
analysis the
possibility o f
all the marvels
of the technol-
ogy of trans-
portation d e -
pends on brute
force. When
the motor was
invented which
afforded half a
horsepower for
each kilogram
of its own
weight there
sprang into ex-
istence the air-
plane which
hitherto had
been decried
as a mad fan-
t a s y and

speedily a way was found to overcome the little ex-
tra problems of the designs of the wings, the pro-
peller, and so forth. The motor which is to carry
persons (or for that matter itself only) into space
must actually develop more than 100 H. P. for each

OTTO WILLI GAIL

kilogram of its own weight, in order to be able to
combat successfully the powerful attraction of the
earth. But unless all appearances are deceptive, this
motor has already been invented or at least is
en route to discovery.

In particular two scientists of world fame have
been working at this problem for years — Prof. Her-
mann Oberth, a German, of Mediasch, and Prof.

Robert H. Goddard, an American,
of Worcester, Massachusetts —
and both have solved it, though
for the present only theoretically,
by means of the rocket motor.
Once this mode of propulsion
(which is not dependent on any
atmospheric resistance and devel-
ops its full efficiency only in a
vacuum) has maintained itself in
practice, then the “space ship” it-
self becomes an alluring but ab-
solutely solvable problem for
skilled constructors. For what
the uninitiated regard as uncon-
querable factors, the fearful cold
in space, the lack of air to breathe,
the absolute absence of weight,
are not at all real hindrances, and
we may confi-
dently assert
that the engi-
neers of 1930-
40 will be able
to make vigor-
ous assaults on
these problems
with air gener-
ators and heat
insulators.

To both of
these gentle-
men I herewith
express my sin-
cere admiration
and my hearty
thanks for their
co-operation.

Of all the in-
vestigat-
ors who devot-
e d themselves
to the problem
of the naviga-
tion of space, at
present the
American Pro-
fessor Goddard
seems to be the
most success-
ful ; for if the last reports from Worcester are accu-
rate, in the near future the first Goddard experimen-
tal rocket (without passengers) will ascend to the
moon, and mankind is at the eve of a veritable new
epoch in world history. Otto Willi Gail.

N presenting this complete novel, we wish to call atten-
tion to the fact that this story was published first in
Germany. The present translation was made on be-
half of Science Wonder Quarterly, the translation being
done by an American, Francis Currier. This is the first Eng-
lish translation, and Science Wonder Quarterly has ac-
quired all rights for this story in the United States.

The story was selected by the editors of the Quarterly
because it is without doubt one of the greatest, if not the
greatest, interplanetarian story published in recent years.

With complete German thoroughness, the author has not
written simply a science-fiction story, but has incorporated
in it the latest scientific advances in the new art of space-
flying.

It may be said without fear of contradiction that the mate-
rial contained in the greater part of the story has never been
used by any science-fiction writer before.

While writing the story, the author has had the collabora-
tion of practically all the German scientists who have of late
come into prominence in their researches, into not only
rocket flying, but space flying and astro-physics.

The scientific angles contained in this story are as accurate
as the present art permits, and may be termed prophetic in
many ways.

There is nothing contained in this story that might be
termed fantastic, so far as the future is concerned. Sooner
or later the art of navigation of outer space will catch up
with the predictions contained in this unforgettable story.
It is certain to become a classic of its type before many years
have passed.

8

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

CHAPTER I
Mysterious Happenings

I N one of the ravines which transverse the south-
ern portion of the Carpathians in their steep
descent to the Wallachian plain — between the
romantic deeply-cut valley of the Oltu River and
the pass of Predeal, over which the express trains
thunder on the way from Czernowitz to Bucharest
— lies the lonely monastery of Valeni.

A bad, almost untravelled road branches off from
the highway above the village of Suicii and winds
between darkly-wooded crags in its easy ascent to
the old walls of the monastery. Long forgotten and
a prey to the moss and vines, the monastery clings
to the mountainside, a reminder of times long past
when the orthodox Carpathian monasteries changed
into stubborn castles and stout defences against en-
croaching Islam, and the spiritual lords were no less
practiced in weapons than the bailiffs and dukes of
Swabian fortresses.

* * *

It is now more than a year and a half since the
inhabitants of Suicii were surprised by an unex-
pected visit. The strangers arrived with a line of
trucks, no one knowing whence they came or what
they wanted. Then wagons came almost daily from
the Oltu valley, laden with tools and building mate-
rial, chests, furniture, and mysterious machinery.

Curiously, yet shyly, the villagers watched, as
gradually a little colony grew in the valley of Va-
leni — as electricity and radio made their appearance.
But none of the strangers understood Roumanian
or Hungarian, and so the purpose of the new col-
ony remained a riddle. Even the magistrate in
Calimanesti knew only that the people were from
Little Russia and were workers of the oil magnate
Romano Vacarescu, to whom the forests about Sui-
cii belonged, and that they were to build some
dwelling houses near the monastery of Valeni.

At length the excited minds were eased; people
became accustomed to the increase in population,
and continued to till the cornfields and to drink the
inevitable plum brandy. But one day curiosity was
newly aroused by the story of a shepherd who came
from Magura Cozia.

On the open plateau between Cozia and the damp
valley of the upper Arges River strange buildings
were being erected. Heavy concrete pillars, sur-
rounding a circular open space, rose high in the air.
Within was being built a peculiar structure, about
which nobody could form a clear idea. Some claim-
ed that it was the dome of a fortified tower, others
asserted that a mighty memorial monument was
being erected there, and extremely clever persons
could tell (from some certain source or other) about
an airport which promised Suicii greater economic
importance.

But as the construction proceeded, the entire pla-
teau was surrounded with a high fence and the en-
trances were carefully guarded. Thus the imagina-

tions of the natives had free run, and soon the most
impossible stories about the mysterious structure
were current.

There was also great activity within the ancient
walls of Valeni. Heavy hammer strokes thundered
from the subterranean cells, machines hummed day
and night, and thick clouds of smoke poured from
the newly erected chimney. In the abandoned
monastery yard rose heaps of coal; oil tanks and
steel cylinders stood in long rows by the walls ; and
thick bundles of electric wire ran from the monas-
tery, some across to the plateau and others to the
dwellings of the workers.

At night, when the Roumanian mountaineers
were sleeping in their sheepskins on the wooden
porches of their mud huts, a bright illumination
shone from the old walls and cast trembling reflec-
tions on the black mountain side.

A Meeting in the Monastery

A N impressive automobile sped through the
winding valley of the Oltu. The narrow Toot
of the valley, between the closely crowding Car-
pathians, gives barely room enough for the road, the
river, and the single track railway which runs
obliquely through the mountains from Hermanstadt
to Slatina. Fairly often, in fact, the highway crosses
the rails and traverses the Oltu River on shaky
bridges. Coming from Ramnicul Valcea (“Gar-
misch,” as the people of Bucharest term it), the car
took the sharp curves before Calimanesti at undim-
inished speed, climbed with a rattle the ridges of
Berislavesti, and crossed Suicii in its mad course.
The natives humbly knelt: they recognised the
green car of the man who owned the oil-wells of
Ploesti and countless square kilometers of Carpa-
thian forest.

By speculation on a grand scale the insignificant
little Roumanian had in a few decades amassed a
fortune reckoned apiong the greatest in the country.
Oil and wood had been his motto : oil for export,
bringing him good foreign money, and wood for the
wide treeless plains of Wallachia.

The car stopped squarely before the monastery.
“Where is Mr. Suchinow?” the passenger de-
manded of the young man who promptly opened the
door of the car. He spoke French, the language of
an aristocrat of Bucharest.

“Monsieur Suchinow is waiting for you down at
the office.”

“Too bad! Call for me again in an hour and a
half,” he ordered the chauffeur, and then he de-
scended into the dark cells of the monastery.

In the narrow corridor leading to the office, a
slender man came to meet the visitor.

“You are punctual, Monsieur Vacarescu. How
was the trip across the mountains?”

“No circumlocutions, if you please, Monsieur Su-
chinow ! I do not enjoy idle conversation when it
is a matter of business.”

The reproved man remained silent. He knew the
peculiarities of the fat little financier and yielded to
them.

t THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

9

The two men entered the office, a comfortably
furnished room, the thick walls of which muffled the
noise of the workshops; the incessant hum of the
high frequency generators operating close by was
noticeable only because of a slight trembling of the
walls and furniture.

“How far along are you?” asked Vacarescu, curt-
ly, sinking back into a chair with a sigh.

“Finished !” replied Suchinow, still more curtly.
On his face, which was strangely dotted with green
spots, lurked the shadow of a contemptuous smile.
“Finished except for ....?”

“Except for nothing!”

“Do you really mean that the rocket can now be
released at any moment?”

“Tomorrow evening at nine twenty-five sharp
(Central European time) it must be released, unless
I want to loaf around thirteen days more until the
next quadrature* of the moon.”

The fat financier seemed to have had his breath
taken away. His surprisingly narrow hooked nose,
which seemed entirely out of place on his fat broad
face, trembled as though threatening to fall off.
“And I ? And our company ?” he snorted.

“Yes, you must certainly hasten, if the Transyl-
vania Company is not to get ahead of you at the
last moment 1” remarked the slender man pleasantly.
“You have a nerve !” exploded Vacarescu angrily.
“No idle conversation, if you please, Monsieur
Vacarescu! It is a question of business. We can
be finished in a few minutes. The contracts are
ready. Have you deposited the money?”

“I am going to protect myself. First, this matter
of the Budapest account does not suit me. If the
rocket does not return, I lose my money for noth-
ing. Now tell me, who is to steer the thing?”
“Skoryna — you know very well.”

“Do you really expect me to settle a fortune on
this untried lad with the peaches and cream com-
plexion ?”

“Sir,” replied Suchinow sharply, “you must cer-
tainly entrust all these arrangements to me, whether
for good or ill.”

“For my money I can probably demand some
guarantee, too!” said the irritated Vacarescu.

“Does not Skoryna guarantee matters with his
life? What further guarantee do you wish?”

“Bah ! a valuable life for twenty thousand Eng-
lish pounds!” jested the financier maliciously.

A shadow crossed the green-spotted face of the
Russian.

“Can one balance a human life with money, Mon-
sieur Vacarescu? Even the life of an — an engineer
like Skoryna? I beg of you to regard the discus-
sion of this point as closed.”

“At least, your preparations have remained se-
cret ?”

“Certainly, so far as is humanly possible. Of
course the press notices and the information for the

* The moon is in quadrature when a line drawn from the earth
to the sun to the moon makes an angle of 90 degrees. Suchinow
evidently did not want to travel directly toward or away from
the sun. — Editor.

Lick and Babelsberg observatories are already pre-
pared. The radio announcements are to be sent out
immediately after the signing of the papers.”

After a short pause Suchinow suddenly asked :
“Why do you set such store by absolute secrecy ?”
He looked slyly up at the man opposite.

“I should not like to have this German — what is
his name, anyway ? — ”

“August Korf.”

“Right ! I do not want this Korf to take a hand
in our game. I trust he knows nothing about it.”
“How should he? After all, what harm would
it do? He has not yet finished his first experiments,
and he could hardly make up my head start. By the
time he can think of competing with us, we shall
long since have set the world in an uproar and
your foundation will be established solidly. Do
you doubt that?”

Vacarescu thoughtfully twirled his watch-chain.
“I cannot help thinking that this Swabian will
somehow upset our calculations.”

The inventor grew pale. Anxiously he examined
the expression of the financier, and he nervously
drummed on the arm of his chair.

“How so?” he asked with forced indifference.
“Do not underestimate this rival! You know that
he invented the rocket at about the same time as
yourself; he knows the dynamic cartridge; and
lately he has been asserting that he can attain twice
as high a repulsion-speed by using liquid explosives.
Some day this man will come into the open with
some startling revelations, and then you and I are
in the soup.”

At these words, offering no interpretation but the
speculator’s anxiety about his investment of capi-
tal, the tension in Suchinow’s face was released.

“I see perfectly well. Monsieur Vacarescu,” he
said calmly, “that you have so little confidence in
me and my — in Skoryna, that it is doubtless best for
us to break our relation and for the Transsylvania
Company. ...”

“For Heaven’s sake !” interrupted Varcarescu, al-
most screaming at him. “You shall have your de-
posit! But the Lord help you, if we fail!”

With a smile bordering on pity Suchinow lifted
the telephone receiver;

“Connect Monsieur Vacarescu with the Buchar-
est Bank of Roumania — yes, the president himself
— very well, then call up here.”

Then he opened the door of a little cabinet built
in the wall, took out some papers, and spread them
over the table.

“Here, Monsieur Vacarescu, is the transfer of li-
cense, here is my appointment as general director of
the Transcosmos Stock Company, here is the sealed
envelope with Skoryna’s will of the twenty thou-
sand pounds, due from the Budapest account in the
case of his death, likewise the statement of your
message to the Bank of Roumania (which you your-
self will telephone in a few minutes) — and here is
ink !”

10

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

CHAPTER II

Uncle Sam

A SUNNY day of late summer was ending. The
light wind which at noon had ruffled the sur-
“ face of Lake Constance was ceasing, and the
last dying waves were splashing on the shore.

Far out on the lake shone in the rays of the eve-
ning sun the dazzling white sails of a little yacht.
It seemed motionless. The main boom swung back
and forth at random, the foresail hung down limp,
and the tiny current of air could not even keep up
the pennant at the mast-head.

The steersman attentively viewed the horizon and
the little white clouds that swam over the Alps,
glowing in the sun.

“After sundown there may be a breeze again,”
he said to his companion ; “we now can only choose
between waiting and rowing. What do you think,
Uncle Sam?”

“I think,” replied the latter, “that we have time
to wait. If the evening breeze fails us, we have at
worst lost a couple of hours — or gained them, my
boy ! Such a splendid evening calls for enjoyment.”
The helmsman rose, secured the tiller and sheet,
and made himself comfortable on the forward deck.

■“Just see what a festive cloak the mountains have
put on to receive me. Truly, old Zugspitze yonder
is blushing for joy that old Sam has returned. Lad,
how beautiful our home is 1”

“It is true, Uncle. But can all this still impress
you, a man who has hunted in the jungles, medi-
tated beside the Ganges, and frozen in Tibet. Can
our poor little Zugspitze still seem striking to you
who have seen Mount Everest rise into space?”
Uncle Sam slowly and thoughtfully filled and
lighted one of his pipes, which he always carried
with him in large numbers, projecting from all his
coat pockets. Then he inhaled deeply, so that there
was a gurgling within the beloved pipe ; he blew a
mighty cloud of smoke into the air and said, as soon
as this busy occupation gave him time :

“Everywhere in the world there are beautiful and
noble things, Gus. Yet it is always a matter of the
relation in which you stand to them. See, this
Everest you spoke of : you look at it and at the same
time you realize that it is the highest point on earth
— it is unfortunate that this is known — you reflect
about the nine thousand meters, reckon and con-
sider — puzzle your memory over all the trifles you
had in school concerning this marvel of a mountain
— and by the time you have successfully digested all
this, you have travelled on. And you have not even
become acquainted with the proud king who sits at
his record height and with cool graciousness waves
farewell to you from afar.

“But our Alpine range here, with yonder the
abrupt descent of Zugspitze and across the lake Pf'dn-
derhiigelchen: these are no record-seekers, only dear
old friends whom I well know. Isn’t that so, old
fellows? You still remember your old Samuel
Finkle !”

In youthful exuberance the man of fifty waved his

hat in greeting to the mountains of his home.

“See,” he went on, “it is so with everything.
There is nothing in the world of which one can ab-
solutely say that it is good, it is beautiful. It is
always a question of good and beautiful for whom
— that is it.”

Reflectively he spat into the water in a great arc.

“As long as your dear sister was still alive, I
never thought of leaving our Alps. But when she
fell at the Wettersteinwand — well, you know all
about it — when we had buried her, then I cursed
the mountains; I could no longer bear to look at
them, and I went to India to the jungles. But that
is long ago, and I have pardoned the mountains for
not watching over her better.”

Then both lay silent, close together on the slight-
ly rocking deck, listening to the lapping of the tiny
waves on the side of the boat and letting their
glances sweep into the greyish blue infinity.

August Korf, the famous chief engineer of the
national airport in Friederichshafen, pressed his
uncle’s hand sympathetically. In reality the little
man beside him, all dried up by the tropic sun, was
not his uncle but his brother-in-law, and Dr. Samuel
Finkle owed his position as “uncle” only to their
noticeable difference in age.

“Uncle Sam,” said Korf after a while, “better
dead than — than lost!”

“What! You, also?” In surprise the old travel-
ler looked up.

“No, no, Uncle! It was only an idea!” protested
Korf.

A Question of Astronomy

'T'HE sun had set. The sky was growing darker,
* and in the southeast Mars already glowed with
its reddish light. Venus, the evening star, pierced
the golden yellow glow of the western horizon;
gradually the two Dippers lit their torches, and the
“W” of Cassiopeia rivalled in splendor the sparkling
starry cross of the Swan.

“Gone and carried away !” the engineer broke the
stillness. “The evening breeze is not yet stirring!”

“That’s the mischief of it!” said Uncle Sam in
comical excitement. “You claim to conquer the uni-
verse and you cannot even conjure up a little bit of
ridiculous terrestrial wind, which we need for the
trip home.”

Korf smiled. “Perhaps it is easier to rule space,
the absolute nothingness, with its rigid latvs, than
the ‘ridiculous terrestrial wind,’ which is dependent
on a thousand influences. In space it is calculation
alone that conquers.”

“Are you so sure of this? Do you think that
chance is entirely excluded in the universe?”

“What is chance? Is there really chance, or is it
not in the last analysis a phenomenon the laws of
which at present still escape our knowledge? Surely
it can safely be assumed that the possibility of un-
calculable phenomena is reduced to a minimum, so
that (strange as it may seem) human knowledge
controls space better than it does numerous phe-
nomena on our little earth.”

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

II

“But this minimum may suffice to shatter all your
plans.” Dr. Finkle energetically drew at his pipe.
“How closely defined are the limits of our life 1 A
change in temperature of a few degrees is sufficient
to cause death. On the tiny layer between the
glowing center of the earth and heatless nothing-
ness of space live man, beast, and plant ; it is merely
chance which has left exactly this space for the pos-
sibility of life. It is a trifling fact on which our
life is based, and only an equally trifling impulse is
needed (for which your ‘minimum’ easily leaves
room enough), in order to destroy it — to blow out
with a breath an insignificant little human being
who rashly seeks to leave Mother Earth.”

“Granted, Uncle Sam ! Just such an opinion was
once expressed by the city council of Nuremberg,
when the first railroad to Fiirth was to be built, yet
today the express trains speed from Paris to
Stamboul.

“Shall I stop because of this minimum in the pos-
sibilities of failure? Shall I destroy my invention,
because it perhaps is not yet perfect ? Shall I with-
hold from mankind a considerable advance in
knowledge, because it may perhaps lead to disap-
pointment ?”

“Gus, you misunderstand me. Believe me, I ad-
mire you and your work, which I hope you will
• soon show me. But I doubt whether this constant
advance in external knowledge is a blessing for
mankind. Do you believe that motorists and avia-
tors of the twentieth century are happier than the
subjects of Frederick the Great, for whom a journey
from Brandenburg to Cassel was an event prepared
months in advance — a real experience? Who has
such experiences today? Will not external knowl-
edge celebrate its triumph at the cost of inner
knowledge — and then shall we have gained any-
thing? I dread outspreading civilization, if it de-
stroys concentrated culture.”

Korf did not reply, and for a while old Sam was
also silent, knocking the ashes from his pipe on the
side of the boat.

“Do you believe that man-like beings inhabit the
stars?” he then asked very suddenly.

“Hardly; that is, I do not know. On the seven
known planets conditions prevail which exclude
the existence of living albuminous cells. The only
planet whose temperature and atmosphere offer any
possibility of vegetation and accordingly of life is
Venus. But all investigations and observations in-
dicate that no rational beings live even there. And
of the planetary systems of the so-called fixed stars
we know nothing or practically nothing.”

•“I will tell you something, Gus. You engineers
and scientists are extremely clever persons, but
somewhere in each of your brains is a gap. You
can calculate until a person gets dazed, but think-
ing is something that you cannot do.”

“You are exceedingly complimentary, dear
Uncle !” said Korf with a laugh.

“Well, please give me a single valid reason —
valid, you understand — why among all the millions
of worlds the little clump we call earth should

alone be selected to have the heritage of life and
reason! Well?”

Samuel Finkle did not seem to expect an answer.
Rolling over on his side, he took from his trousers
pocket a new matchbox, twirling it in his fingers,
which resulted in splitting a joint of the box. He
continued his remarks:

“It is megalomania to believe that ! At least now,
after science has robbed our earth of its ancient
position as the motionless center of the universe and
has assigned it the modest place of a planet circling
about the sun.”

“Of course you do not venture to disturb the
eminent position of the sun, do you?” said Korf,
amused by his uncle’s zeal.

“Of course the sun must revolve about some cen-
tral star or other, in my opinion Sirius, and the lat-
ter again about something more central, and so
forth.”

“Then you do grant a certain order of rank,
Uncle. Central, more central, still more central,
most central of all. . . .”

“With you mathematicians a fellow cannot speak
a sensible word. Are you trying to make a fool of
old Sam?”

“No, Uncle.” Korf became serious. “But one
thing is certain : the earth does not revolve around
the sun, any more than the moon revolves around
the earth. It only seems so.”

“It only seems so?” Uncle Sam’s pipe had almost
fallen from his mouth in his surprise. “Do you
know, Gus, things cannot so easily amaze an old
globe trotter like me, but I am exceedingly amazed
that you should mock your good uncle this way !”

Having spoken, he rolled over on his side, evi-
dently hurt and firmly resolved to regard the con-
versation as closed.

"Just think a bit, Uncle; you can do it better than
I ! Where would your theory be with regard to the
equality of the stars and consequently the rational
beings living on them, if you allow the sun the rank
of a central star? I only want to confirm and sup-
plement your theory. The universe is more demo-
cratic than you think.”

Already old Sam broke his resolution and con-
descended to call back over his shoulder: “What
the devil does the earth revolve around, if not the
sun? Are you accusing old Kepler of lying?”

“Around a point, Uncle; around the same point
as the sun itself, around the common center of grav-
ity, which on account of the immense mass of the
sun lies so near its center that we may well pardon
this slight error and calmly pass over it. Won’t you
be kind enough to turn back again ?”

“Then I am right, am I not ?” said Sam, making
a half-turn.

“Surely, Uncle ! On other heavenly bodies there
may well be rational beings. But as long as it is
not proved, we must leave the question to philoso-
phers and novelists. But look! The evening
breeze is coming!”

Quickly he released the tiller and sheet. On the
greenish black surface of the lake appeared bright

S-O-S: S-O-S came the flashes of light from space from an infinite and unattainable

distance. Then the dot of light by the moon went out.

12

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

13

trembling streaks, coming nearer and nearer, pre-
cursors of the expected breeze. In a few seconds
it reached the yacht, inflating the canvas and mak-
ing the loosely flapping jib crack like a whip.

“There, Uncle Sam, this will be a speedy return
trip. Look out, I am going to tack !”

The bow cut through the waves, casting up the
spray ; the wind sang in the shrouds ; before the lake
sank into complete darkness, the yacht was rocking
at its buoy.

Bluff or Reality?

I N the pure sea air of California, at a considerable
height' above sea level, stands the great Lick
astronomical observatory enjoying, more than any
other, especially favorable conditions for the obser-
vation of the northern sky. The dustless air per-
mits the use of such great magnification that the
aged observer, Nielson, chose as the special field
of his researches the exact study of the surface of
the moon. Nielson was also considered the chief
authority in the observation of the little planet Mer-
cury, visible only in the uncertain half-light of eve-
ning or morning.

On the evening of the sixth of September the
aged scientist was startled out of his calm and
peaceful contemplation of the magnificent surround-
ings by an amazing radiogram. Carefully he studied
the dispatch, uncertain whether he should regard
the message as serious or as a poor jest.

“What do you think of that?” he asked his assist-
ant.

“Suchinow — Suchinow !” replied the latter. “That
must be the Russian who caused so much excite-
ment by his work on the conquering of space by
means of rocket propulsion. Do you remember, sir?
He claimed that he had solved the problem and that
he could actually carry out his plans, as soon as
he had at his disposal a propulsion material with a
latent chemical energy of about 60,000 calories per
kilogram. When his experiments at that time al-
ways failed, the matter was regarded as mere fan-
tasy. Perhaps he has now really found a sufficient
source of energy.”

Shaking his head, the old astronomer reread the
telegram :

"September 7, 9.25 P.M. Central European Time,
Suchinow moon rocket leaves 45° 16' 40" N. Lat.,
24° 34' 30" E. Long., Greenwich. Observations
please, Transcosmos, Bucharest.”

“According to our local time that would be to-
morrow afternoon at one,” said the assistant. “By
day we can hardly see much.”

“Still less at night, if the rocket is not sufficiently
illuminated,” answered Nielson. “Do you really
believe it at all ?”

“It is not impossible. If the Russian has an
energy accumulator of sufficient capacity, the mat-
ter is hardly to be doubted ; spatial navigation has
thus far failed only on this one account.”

"Man, do not tempt the gods!” murmured the
aged astronomer into his grey beard. Then he said
aloud : “Make the necessary preparations and have

the observatory ready at any rate by six o’clock to-
morrow afternoon. Before that we can hardly ex-
pect to make an observation.”

In spite of his great doubt of the success of the
enterprise just announced, Nielson spent the night
in feverish excitement.

“Shall I live to see it,” he thought, “this marvel of
man’s leaving the earth and rashly peeping behind
the moon?”

Then there awoke in him the interest of a scientist
who had devoted a whole life to his research. At
last mankind was to receive enlightenment and
certainty regarding the appearance of the part of
the moon which had been hidden from the earth
for thousands and millions of years ! The fabulous
three-sevenths of the surface of the moon, about
the nature of which there was no explanation but
surmises and hypotheses: very plausible, indeed,
but mere hypotheses after all !

The apparently inexplicable mystery was about
to be solved, and he — Nielson — need not take the
question unanswered to his grave.

That night he did not close his eyes. In excite-
ment he ran back and forth between his study and
the giant telescope in the dome. Then he went
down the steps of the tower and walked about in
the open.

The moon shone in its first quarter through the
pure sea air. It seemed to be laughing at the stir
which human beings were making about its hidden
side.

Nielson became thoughtful. He knew very well
the problem of the space ship, which years ago had
been widely published in all the papers and had
then sunk into oblivion, since there could be no
practical solution in view of the lack of a proper
fuel. Likewise he did not regard it as impossible to
send a shot from the earth ; but could a man with-
stand the fearful initial acceleration? What was
the use of a space ship without an observer? The
radiogram had given no information on this score.

What if it were only a bad joke which he was
taking as some&ing serious?

Slowly the night went by, still more slowly the
following morning. It became afternoon. Now,
at this very moment, the shot was taking place,
provided the news was correct. Nielson could
hardly conceal his excitement any longer.

The hours dragged by. On some pretext or
other he busied himself in the dome where the as-
sistant, on the movable platform, was sitting in
readiness at the eye-piece, constantly observing the
eastern sky._

“I see nothing yet, sir !”

Evening set in, and still the report of the ob-
server was the same: “I see nothing yet, sir!”

Was it possible that some joker. . . . ? But Niel-
son said to himself that by daylight an observa-
tion was scarcely to be expected ; the shot naturally
could not be very large, and the presumably very
high angular velocity must quickly take it from
the observer’s field of vision. By night, however,
perhaps they could see the rocket with the naked

14

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

eye, assuming that it radiated a strong light, and
could point the telescope accordingly.

Nine o’clock approached.

“We are now in the same relative position to the
sun as the starting point of the rocket at the time
of the discharge. Now it must be visible, if it is
illuminated, provided it was sent at all.” Nielson
climbed the ladder to the observation platform, to
relieve his assistant. With trembling fingers he
turned the eye-piece, to adjust it to his old far-
sighted eyes. The mighty tube was almost vertical,
for by now the rocket had to appear somewhere
near the zenith.

Vainly he scanned the heavens. Time passed;
morning approached; nothing!

But wait ! A cry of joy escaped the aged scientist.
There on the firmament was a glowing streak. In
a loud voice he called the assistant.

“Is it visible, sir?” asked the latter hastily.

“We have been swindled, after all !” replied Niel-
son, disillusioned. A meteor had tricked his fevered
imagination. He left the observatory, utterly ex-
hausted.

CHAPTER III
Korf Hears the News

C OUNCILLOR HEYSE, the director of the na-
tional airport at Friedrichshafen on Lake
Constance, was sitting in his private office
and turning the leaves of a heap of newspapers.
One item in particular seemed to hold his attention.
Hastily he threw away his cigar and pressed the
button of an electric bell.

“Please send me Chief Engineer Korf at once!”
he said to the clerk who answered the bell.

In a few moments appeared the man sent for, a
broad-shouldered blond fellow, the technical brain
of the Victoria airport.

“My dear Korf,” the director greeted him heartily,
“I must unfortunately give you some bad news.
Please sit down.

“You know,” he went on, “that we cannot carry
out your project until we have the necessary money
at our disposal. My visit to the government to es-
tablish a suitable credit has unluckily met with no
success. Reconstruction, cutting down expenses,
government economy, the burdens of the peace
treaty — those were the ever recurring arguments
on which the refusal was based. We may abso-
lutely give up hope.”

“Then I must simply turn to the public, council-
lor!” said Korf calmly. “The masses will have
more understanding than the narrow-minded par-
liament.”

“Do not hope for too much !” interjected the di-
rector thoughtfully.

“Let the director recall the Echterdingen catas-
trophe, when Count Zeppelin’s dirigible came down
in flames and was destroyed. In spontaneous rec-
ognition of the greatness of Zeppelin’s work the
German people opened heart and purse, and in a
few weeks millions were at Zeppelin’s disposal.

And to-day it is a question, not of controlling the
air but of conquering space, the universe.”

“You are an optimist, my dear Korf!” replied
Heyse. “The public is as yet too little acquainted
with you and your work. Your invention is not
trusted, and — believe me — the Germans give no
money without assurance of success, especially in
this general shortage of money.

“Exhibit your space ship to the public, travel in
it to the moon, with a safe return; then, indeed,
you .may have any sum to build further models.”
“This is just the tragedy of many great inven-
tions! First success, then money! And if success
is impossible without money, the finest thing sinks
into oblivion.”

“You are looking at the dark side of things, coun-
cillor !”

“What do you estimate as the lowest possible
cost of the first ship?”

“From eight to nine hundred thousand marks
will suffice. A still smaller and cheaper model is un-
fortunately impractical. One would think that this
sum could be collected. Just ten pfennig from
every wage-earner of Germany would be enough.
If the nation realizes what the question is, it will
gladly sacrifice a few pfennig.”

“Yes, if the nation realizes. But it realizes only
what it sees. And then, one more thing: you are
too late. The Russian is already at the goal.”
“What Russian?” asked Korf absently.

“You surely remember the Suchinow publica-
tions of two years ago, in which exactly your idea

of the space rocket was worked out ”

“Oh, yes ! I know. He only lacked the principal
feature, the dynamic cartridge!” said Korf with a
laugh.

Director Heyse excitedly turned the pages of the
newspaper.

“It is not so harmless as that ! The man seems to
have invented the dynamic cartridge or an equiva-
lent substitute. Here, read this!”

Quickly Korf seized the paper. On the first
page, in heavy type, running the entire width of
the page, he read :

“The shot into infinity has become reality. The
following startling radiogram has just arrived:
‘“Bucharest, September 7, 11 P.M. To-day at
9-25 P.M. start of Suchinow space rocket from
Calimanesti to moon. Further news follows.’
“We give this report with reservation. A confir-
mation of the news is awaited. As we fully re-
ported in No. 47 of last year, Dimitri Suchinow of
Little Russia about two years ago conducted the

first experiments ”

Korf read no further. His eyes flashed.

“Can the Russian,” he murmured, “also have dis-
covered the dynamic cartridge? Strange!”

Shaking his head, he studied the article to the
end.

“Well?” asked the councillor.

For a time Korf did not reply; then he said
slowly: “I do not know what propelling force

Suchinow is using for his rocket. One thing is

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

15

absolutely sure: if it does not attain the necessary
exhaust speed of at least 3000 meters a second, the
Russian will not reach the goal. And I think I
can correctly state that this performance can be
surely attained only by my new machine with
liquid fuel. If Suchinow, as is very probable, is
operating with solid explosives of the type of the
dynamic cartridge, he will not lift his machine
above the field of attraction of the earth, or else . . .”

“Or else?”

Stressing each word, Korf completed his state-
ment : “Or else he will pass the limit of the earth’s
attraction by using up the last supply of energy,
but then he will never return.”

“A frightful thought !” groaned Heyse.

“Unfortunately a warning would already be too
late.” Korf took up the newspaper again. “The
rocket ascended last night.”

“Even if it were not too late, it would not help.
Do you really believe that an inventor would seri-
ously consider the warning of his rival ? Fancy his
letting himself be induced to abandon his enter-
prise with the goal in sight ! Such a warning would
also be thought by the public the manoeuver of a
rival and would expose you to ridicule without
helping anyone. No, it cannot be done at all.”

“There still remains the hope that Suchinow has
simply released an experimental rocket without
occupants. The report certainly doqs not mention
any passengers. But what benefit will astro-physics
derive, if a lifeless machine is sent up without an
observer, or if the observer does not return alive?
Either way, the shot into infinity is an interesting
experiment but nothing more, and it will end in a
fiasco.”

“So much the worse, if the Russian fails!” cried
Dr. Heyse. “Then public opinion will be aroused
and we shall have no success at all in collecting
money for an apparently discredited affair, the
hopelessness of which will appear established by
this mishap.”

“My plan is not hopeless and cannot be dis-
credited by Suchinow’s presumable mishap,” re-
plied the inventor firmly. “I sincerely beg you,
Councillor, to start a public drive for funds. I
trust the judgment of the German nation. And
now may I be excused? A visitor is waiting for
me in the laboratory.”

“Incorrigible optimist !” grumbled the councillor,
when Korf had gone. “He does not even wonder
whether this drive for funds will be sanctioned !”

To Mother Barbara’s

A PPARENTLY unconcerned, Korf hastened to
his laboratory, where Uncle Finkle was already
awaiting him impatiently. In one hand the news-
paper, in the other his inevitable pipe, Sam ran to
meet his brother-in-law, gesticulating and shout-
ing from halfway across the room, so that his voice
broke :

“Have you read it? There is a race for the
moon! The Russian. . . .”

“Apparently has money !” interrupted Korf.

“That is his only advantage. Yet he will get to
the moon with money just as little as I shall with-
out it.”

“Well, the question of money is not so difficult.
Just sell some licenses.” With a roguish wink he
nudged his friend.

“Licenses ?”

“Of course! The simplest thing in the world!
Mampe will pay you a pretty penny for the sole
right to install saloons on the moon. Don’t you
think so?”

“It is too bad that apparently there is neither to-
bacco nor wood on the moon, or I should gladly
give you the tobacco pipe monopoly!”

“Thank you very much! Unfortunately I have
no use for it. I intend to end my days here on
earth. But, joking aside,” added Sam sorrowfully,
“it is cursedly unpleasant about this rocket. Where
did the fellow get it?”

“It is nothing remarkable,” answered Korf calmly,
“that the very same discovery should be made at
the same time by different persons who have no
connection. The usual duplicity of events! Be-
sides, this Suchinow came before the public with
the project of spatial navigation somewhat ahead
of me.”

Angrily Sam knocked the ash from his pipe.

"The devil take the entire rocket business, for
all I care !” he grumbled. “But if people absolutely
have to travel to the moon, then I think it need
not be granted to a Russian to be the one who wins
the laurels.”

“He is not there yet, Uncle !”

“I hope he breaks his neck ! I must dissolve my
anger, or I shall burst. Come, lad, let us go to
Mother Barbara’s for a pint. . . .”

“Don’t you want to see my experimental model ?”

“That would be bad, Gus, very bad! With this
wrath inside me? Impossible! The only help is
a good drink. Trust old Sam; he knows the things
of this earth. When I was just a lad, I often found
consolation for my bad lessons by going to Mother
Barbara’s.”

Firmly he took his resisting brother-in-law by
the arm and led him away.

In the narrow drinking room of Mother Bar-
bara’s inn guests were already sitting, in spite of
the early afternoon hour. They were disputing
loudly and eagerly about the great event of the
trip to the moon.

“The attempt ought to fail,” burst out a stout
grain merchant, striking the table with his fat hand,
so that the glasses clinked. “It’s a real shame that
a fool of a Russian is getting to the moon ahead of
us people of Friedrichshafen. Who built the first
Zeppelin? Who flew over to America? We did!
And who started this whole business of travelling
to the moon? We people of Friedrichshafen. And
now are we just going to look on? That is not
right, no, it isn’t!” Hurriedly he emptied his
glass.

“It is terrible, terrible as the devil !” affirmed
his neighbor thoughtfully.

16

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

“Do you remember,” went on the merchant,
“what a stir it made when the ZR 3 flew across
the ocean, when the whole world looked at us here
in Friedrichshafen? And now the moon and the
stars would be looking at us, too, if Korf had hur-
ried a little more. Isn’t that so?”

“Perhaps Korf sold his invention to the Russian,”
bwhispered his neighbor behind his hand, moving a
little closer. “We don’t know!”

“Don’t talk nonsense ! Korf giving his business
M:o a foreigner! You don’t know him! No, Korf
^wouldn’t do things like that, and now he has in-
dented something quite new, very much better.”

“Then why doesn’t he build such a ship, eh?
■‘Why does he let the Russian fly off and just look
kon?”

“Well, he put in all his time and ran out of
•money.”

“But look here, this Russian has done it. I don’t
know, but the whole thing doesn’t look good to
? me.” /

“Look here,” interrupted a third. “This whole
Suchinow business is just a swindle! Have you
seen the rocket, or has anybody else seen it?”

“Not that I know of !”

“But we could see it flying to the moon. We
see the moon all right!”

Busily Mother Barbara ambled around among the
tables. She hardly had a chance to stop in her
filling the glasses. It suited her nicely. She re-
joiced at every event which could excite the people
of Friedrichshafen, because excitement causes
thirst, and thirst must be quenched. She enjoyed
nothing so much as seeing empty pint steins before
her guests.

Suddenly the conversation at the head table
ceased ; two new guests had come in. Inquisitively
the people looked at the couple, well known to all
Friedrichshafen, persons especially noticeable on
this day of days.

“Good day to all of you !” said Uncle Sam jovially.
Korf merely nodded absently and took a seat at a
table in the partitioned corner behind the buffet.

“Yes, old Sam is still alive, too !” was the greet-
ing of the fat old landlady to the friend of her
youth, and she fairly beamed with joy at seeing
him again. Without waiting for the order she set
two glasses of old Rhine wine on the table and then
began a very lively and extensive conversation with
Sam. The inquisitive guests at the head table, who
were hoping to learn all sorts of things about the
moon episode, soon turned away disappointed and
bored, beginning again their interrupted dispute,
first softly, then louder and louder, with an inces-
sant flow like a mountain torrent. Only an unin-
telligible confusion of voices, occasionally inter-
rupted by heavy pounding on the table, came
through the thick clouds of tobacco smoke.

Korf sat silently in the corner. The newspaper
announcement occupied his mind still more
than he showed. What kind of energy accumulator
did Suchinow possess, that he should venture to
despatch the rocket? Would this event harm or

help his own plan? Would the rocket really reach
the moon? Above all, was there an observer in the
machine, and was he still alive? The evening
paper would surely bring more news. Besides that,
Korf did not think it impossible that the rocket
would be visible this evening. As to seeing it with
the naked eye, that he certainly considered doubtful.

“A splendid woman, this Mother Barbara !” said
Uncle Sam, when the landlady had again turned to
the head table, rousing Korf from his revery by
the words. “She outlives generations, and her
wine is splendid. Here’s to your health, lad !”

The Disaster

S AM raised the glass to the level of his eyes,
swung it a few times in a circle, sniffed the fra-
grant liquid, took a little sip, and smacked his lips.
His lower jaw trembled like the throat of a tree-frog
waiting for a fly. He sniffed again and took another
drink. Thus it was a long time before the old
connoisseur set down the glass again, wiping his
mouth and uttering a deep sigh of content from his
very soul.

“Now I am more in the mood, Gus; just fire
away, what do you think of this new thing? It’s
probably a swindle, isn’t it ?”

Korf shrugged his shoulders.

“Who could be interested in exciting the world
with such false news? It is rather late in the year
for an April fool joke of this kind!”

“Just tell me directly, Gus, why your work is
progressing so slowly that someone else could get
ahead of you?”

“There are various reasons, Uncle Sam. Two
years ago I had already made considerable prog-
ress in preparing the rocket. I had put in all my
available capital. And then came the catastrophe !”
“That is right. You wrote me once about a great
fire. I was then in Bombay, having quite a time
with the English. They absolutely wouldn’t be-
lieve that I had as little to do with the Indian dis-
orders as Mother Barbara with the moon rocket.
How about this catastrophe, anyway?”

“Somehow the small supply of my dynamic car-
tridges seems to have taken fire spontaneously.
Maybe there was a short circuit. At any rate, they
exploded in my laboratory, luckily when nobody
was them Not much remained of my work, you
may well imagine. My assistant, a Hungarian
student, came near losing her life in the flames.
The reckless girl wanted to rescue the box of con-
struction plans from the fire. It was crazy, with
the incessant explosions. I tell you, Uncle, my
heart stopped beating when I saw Natalka plunge
into the flames. I thought she was lost; I raged
at the firemen who refused to follow me into the fire
to save Natalka.”

Korf remained silent for a while.

“Did you save her?” asked Uncle Sam, much
interested.

“I did not find her. How I ever got out of that
flaming inferno again is a mystery to me to-day.
Later I was told that I was found unconscious

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

17

close to the fire. For days I lay between life and
death. All my life I shall bear the scars of my
burns.”

“And Natalka?” }

“Fortunately she recognized in time the hope-
lessness of her mad attempt and plunged into the
lake with her clothing all on fire. That saved her.
She escaped with the loss of her splendid long hair.
I shall never forget this courageous helper, al-
though. . . .”

Korf did not finish the sentence.

“Although ? Why, what did she do to you, Gus ?”

“Oh, nothing! She remained here a few weeks
more and helped me very much in reconstructing
the dynamic cartridge. The fire had destroyed all
my supply.”

“And then?” asked Sam stubbornly.

“And then? Then she asked for her release. I
could not keep her.”

“So that was the way,” said Sam, and he slowly
repeated the words, “She asked for her release.”
He seemed to be thinking of something other than
what he said.

“Speak up, lad!” he remarked after a few min-
utes, while he refilled his pipe. “Isn't it striking
that this Natalka went away so suddenly and with-
out cause, only a comparatively short time after the
fire?”

“Without cause?” Korf laughed bitterly. “With-
out cause? Natalka is now living in Berlin as the
wife of the apothecary Mertens; maybe right now
she is a charming mother 1”

“Oh, that’s how it is!” said Finkle, whistling
through his teeth ; he was reflecting. Poor Gus,
he thought. Then he said aloud :

“I thought you were going to tell me more about
your invention than about the fate of your as-
sistant.”

“That can be told in a few words. I had to start
again almost at the beginning, and quite by chance
I hit on the combination of gases for fuel on which
my new model depends. If the airport had not occa-
sionally given me a little help from the surplus
funds, I might calmly have buried all my hopes
after the fire. Now I have made so much progress
that I can build the first practically serviceable
space ship as soon as I can get the necessary capi-
tal. That is terribly hard in Germany at present.”

“And foreign capital?”

“That has been offered me several times.”

“Well?”

“Uncle Sam, I would rather destroy my whole
invention than let this, too, go to some foreign
country. Isn’t it enough, in case of a new world
war, that the Americans threaten us with our own
Zeppelins, that the Japanese rule the seas with our
Krupp cannon, and that the French are making
steel with our Saar coal? Truly, other countries
are equipped with our own best weapons, so that
they can attack us at will, if an occasion arises. No,
Uncle, my space ship must and will remain a Ger-
man national affair.”

“The trick of this Suchinow is all the worse !”

A Strange Coincidence

S AM again carefully sipped his wine, looking in-
tently at his brother-in-law over the edge of the
glass. He remarked quite without any previous
connection :

“Do you still correspond with Natalka, that is
to say, Mrs. Mertens?”

“She writes to me off and on, telling about her
household affairs. The former student seems to
have become a model housewife!” replied Korf
drily, drawing spiral figures in the ash tray with a
match. "Of course I send her a few lines off and
on, too ; but she never speaks of my cares and plans.
Naturally ! She has quite different interests
now !”

It did not escape Uncle Sam, with what warmth
Korf spoke of Natalka and how indifferently of
Mrs. Mertens.

Gus, Gus, he thought, you seem to have scorched
something besides your skin in that fire! But an-
other idea passed involuntarily through his mind.

“Gus,” he began, “do Natalka’s letters actually
come from Berlin?”

Korf looked up in surprise. “What a strange
question !”

“I only thought it somewhat unusual that a Hun-
garian student should marry a German druggist.”
“Well, chemical knowledge may be useful to a
druggist’s wife,” said Korf bitterly, pulling a bat-
tered envelope from his pocket. “There, see for
yourself! You may perfectly well read the letter,
which I got only a few days ago. It is no love let-
ter, such as is kept from profane eyes.”

Sam took the letter. “Too bad it isn’t, Gus ; isn’t
that so?”

Korf paid no attention to this remark. “Besides,
I have met Mertens myself. The young couple
visited me once after the wedding.”

“He didn’t impress you much, this Mertens?”
“Good Lord, he isn’t a hunchback !”

Sam carefully read the letter. In firm and almost
masculine characters it stated that the writer was
very well, that Mr. Mertens was a model husband,
that the “Angel” drugstore did a fine business, that
this settled existence showed that though their
work together in Friedrichshafen was a pleasant
memory, woman’s place was not in scientific work
but in the home, and so forth.

“The only thing missing is some recipes !” mocked
Sam.

“Uncle Sam!” cried Korf, reproachful and in-
jured.

“Lad!” said Finkle, rising gravely. “I know
and understand; this Natalka has made a fool of
you. Everybody has his youthful fancies, and no
one can say anything against them. But Gus, a
woman who writes such silly meaningless letters —
why, Gus, such a woman is not worth one hour’s
thoughts from a man like August Korf. I must
say so, Gus! And if to rescue the honor of your
adored one you think you have to take a pistol shot
at old Sam, well, please go ahead !”

18

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

With a mighty swing of his arm he threw the
letters on the table, striking the paper with the fist
which firmly held his pipe, so that a rain of ashes
and burning tobacco poured over the table. He
must have been greatly excited to subject one of
his beloved pipes to such an unaffectionate treat-
ment.

Korf shuddered; then he said in an aggrieved
tone : “I cannot contradict you, Uncle. If I did

not know Natalka’s handwriting so well, I could
not possibly believe, good heavens, that Mrs. Mer-
ten s and my — my assistant were one and the same
person !”

Dissatisfied, Sam cleaned up the table, testing the

with the pencilled date. The Berlin postmark had
the same date.

Then his wrinkled face lighted up ; a sudden idea
seemed to brighten him, and contentedly he again
surveyed his wine glass.

Well — the letter was written by Natalka and
posted by Mrs. Mertens in Berlin on August thir-
tieth. But. . . .

He put the envelope into his pocket, on the re-
verse of which was the sender’s address, returned
the letter, and said, ignoring what had just oc-
curred :

“Then money is what you lack! I shall just see
about that a little. Old Sam knows many people.

The pump began to work— The candle flickered and went out. The bell sounded fainter
and fainter though the clapper kept on striking.

mishandled pipe and knocking the ashes from the
letter. The postage stamp had fallen from the en-
velope, and he tried to stick it on again — mechanic-
ally, as though trying to remove all signs of his
outburst of anger.

Suddenly he stopped, held the envelope under the
light, examined it with first one eye and then the
other, and shook his head thoughtfully. On the
place where the stamp had been stuck was written
in pencil “30/8”.

“Strange,” murmured Sam, “to write the date of
the letter under the stamp 1” Then he took up the
letter again. It was dated August 30, which agreed

Who knows, perhaps I can be helpful to you in
this respect. Tomorrow I must be off to the
Turkish Consulate in Berlin, and I shall keep the
matter in mind. — Mother Barbara, bring me an-
other of the same !”

A Sleepless Night

I N the streets and alleys of the usually very quiet
little city on Lake Constance it was lively the
next night. When darkness set in, the people
poured out to the lake in crowds. The entire city,
to the last man, seemed to come out. They crowded
about the boats which were for hire, the owners of

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

19

which were doing splendid business. Recognizing
the demand, they made a special increase beyond
the ordinary rental fee. As far as one could see
in the darkness, there were canoes, rowboats, and
any kind of thing that would float on the water.
With telescopes and opera glasses the people un-
ceasingly scanned the sky with an attention such
as had hardly likely ever been given the old moon
in this district before.

The evening papers had confirmed the sending
of the rocket, and no dweller in Friedrichshafen
was willing to let this event escape him, though
opinions regarding visibility and invisiblity were
very divided. On this evening many saw perhaps
for the first time that most of the stars, like the sun,
rise in the east, climbing higher and higher in the
firmament, to sink again to the western horizon.
Many noticed or learned, to their astonishment,
that the pole star, on the contrary, seems to stand
still, while the entire starry heaven revolves around
it.

But when the hours passed and nothing at all
sensational occurred, no arc of fire in the sky, no
glowing, speeding shot, no explosion on the moon,
then gradually the older persons began to go home
disappointed, others followed, and all at once com-
menced the general migration back to the city,
though morning was still far off. Only the more
stubborn ones held out until the grey of morning,
until the rising sun colored the eastern sky and ex-
tinguished all the splendor of the stars.

On the next morning the papers brought reports
columns in length. All the reports, including those
from other countries, showed a certain disappoint-
ment that nothing could be observed ; yet there was
scarcely any doubt that the shot had actually taken
place. A leading Berlin paper printed the descrip-
tion by its Roumanian correspondent. To be sure,
no one had actually seen the shot, but in the night
in question, soon after nine o’clock, the dwellers
in the vicinity of Calimanesti had waked in fright
at a loud thundering crackling sound like ma-
chine gun firing. In great excitement the Rou-
manian mountaineers, who could not understand
the frightful noise, had fled down the valley. The
cattle had become unmanageable, horses and oxen
had broken loose, increasing the general confusion,
added to which was the incessant howling of the
dogs, while the mountain beasts, heedless of men
and dogs, had fled through the villages in wild
terror.

The thundering had also been heard in the great
hotels of Ramnicul Valcea, and some of the guests
claimed that they had seen a dazzling light over the
mountains to the northeast.

Most of the observatories which had been asked
for information about their observations and
opinions assumed a very cautious and reticent
position.

The Babelsberg Observatory, Berlin, wrote as
follows :

“Until we are informed regarding the dimensions,
velocity, and direction of flight, we can form no

opinion regarding the possible visibility of the
rocket. It is, however, certainly striking that up
to now the rocket has not been perceived by any
observatory in the world.”

The Greenwich Observatory, reporting to the
Daily News, offered rather more hope :

. . . Still it is possible that the rocket is illumi-
nated insufficiently or not at all, for which reason
it can only be seen when it emerges from the
shadow of the earth. We can make no prediction
when that will occur, since we have no basis for
calculation.”

Even the following night brought no certainty,
since a thick covering of clouds had formed over
the entire Western Europe, and the commencing
autumn mist alone was enough to make observa-
tions extremely difficult.

Soon such strong doubts had public expression
that no one dared to look up at the sky any more,
for fear of being mocked as a “rocket-gazer”.

This development of the matter was not at all
pleasant for Korf. Even if he himself, on a logical
basis, believed that the shot had succeeded, it was
fatal for the public to think itself made fun of.
What effect would this have on his collection of
funds, now just ready to start? The public might
after all pass over a failure, but it would never par-
don having been fooled. Doubtless the inevitable
inclination to generalization would produce at least
a very reserved frame of mind as regards the ques-
tion of spatial navigation.

A bad omen for the fate of the national collec-
tion!

Korf grew very angry.

“This botcher!" he growled. “Apparently the
machine was badly made and has come to grief. It
would have been better if he had kept quiet about
his shot into infinity. Public opinion is quickly de-
stroyed !”

It did not occur to Korf that he was really heartily
wishing success to his dangerous rival. He hon-
estly hoped that the rocket would still be discovered
in its path to the moon.

CHAPTER IVj

The Riddle

F ROM the Uhlandstrasse station of the Berlin
subway a man slowly climbed the stairs to the
open air. He looked about in hesitation and
then walked over to a policeman.

“The Angel drugstore?" answered the latter to his
question. .,4‘That has been closed 'for six months,
and the building is being made over to a moving
picture theatre.”

The inquirer gave polite thanks for the informa-
tion. Pleased, as though the policeman had given
him very satisfactory news, he continued up Uhland-
strasse, carefully examining the white tablets with
the name of the streets, and turned into a side street.
Stopping before a high, dreary lodging house, he
drew from between the tobacco pipes and pouches

20

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

in his pocket a crumpled envelope, comparing the
address with the number of the house.

“Well, just wait, my dear Mrs. Mertensl” he
said to himself with a grin. “You will be in our
hands, after all !”

Then he entered the house and stamped up the
grey creaking stairs. Each story contained three
dwellings, and accordingly old Sam had to study
several dozen nameplates of occupants and visiting
cards of sub-letters, until finally on the fourth floor
at the right he saw the name Mertens shining on a
polished brass plate.

For a long time nobody answered his ringing.
He pressed the button a second and a third time,
when he at last heard shuffling steps in the corridor.
The door, secured by a safety chain, opened barely
a hand’s breadth.

“Who is there?” cried a thin squeaky voice, ap-
parently belonging to a woman and startling Sam
by its tone. He never could endure talking with
invisible persons.

“Just open the door, my good Mrs. Mertens, I am
not a burglar,” he said in the friendliest tone pos-
sible to him in his sudden excitement.

An ill-smelling vapor of sour milk and steamed
sauerkraut came from the narrow opening.

“What do you want ?” asked the voice behind the
door.

"I shall explain it exactly, as soon as you have
opened the door, Mrs. Mertensl”

“But I am not Mrs. Mertens. They moved out
long ago.”

“Is that so?” said Sam in surprise. “Then why
is there a plate on the door with the name of
Mertens ?”

“Are you from the housing commissioner?” said
the voice, in which there now sounded a blending
of mistrust and worry.

“Do not be alarmed, my good woman ! Please
tell me where the Mertens live now, and I shall
not bother you any more.”

“Ask the porter!”

Samuel Finkle was glad to follow this rude but
practical direction, and luckily found in the porter
a creature of flesh and blood — very much flesh,
indeed.

“Well, the Mertens!” said he. “Yes, the Mer-
tens! Just keep your fingers away, my dear sir.
Mr. Mertens is not going to keep his eyes shut
much longer. I advise you to stay away 1”

Uncle Sam could make no sense of the stuff the
man was saying, yet he congratulated himself on
having found so talkative a person. Here he could
count on learning more than from the nivisible spirit
on the fourth floor.

“I know you mean well by me, porter,” said he,
“but will you please be so kind as to express your-
self more plainly. I do not understand you.”

Then the porter laughed so loudly that it re-
echoed.

“Oh, don’t try to fool me that way! Of course
a person does not hang his dirty linen in the mar-
ket place. But you don’t need to hide things from

me; I can keep quiet. I’ve seen plenty of fellows
sneaking up the stairs, when Mertens was over at
the drugstore.”

The porter grinned in a greasy, ambiguous way,
perfectly comprehensible to Sam.

“Fortunately they moved out before we had to
get after them with the authorities. This is a re-
spectable house. Of course we put up with things
and sometimes shut both eyes a bit. But she went
too far, till it even caught the attention of the tax
collector on the first floor, and anyway her shame-
lessness was getting too much for me.”

“Tell me, how did this Mrs. Mertens really look?”
asked Finkle thoughtfully. The porter eyed him
from top to toe. There was a threatening tone in
his words:

“See here, are you making a fool of me?”

“Not at all ; I really do not know Mrs. Mertens.
I just wanted — well, I am supposed to give her
greetings from an old friend.”

"So that’s it — from a friend ! I really might have
thought that you were not the lucky man. She
used to favor younger cavaliers.”

Uncle Sam was getting ashamed of the unworthy
role which, against his will he had forced on his
young friend. Still, wasn’t it somewhat justified?
Hadn’t there doubtless been tender relations be-
tween Korf and Natalka?

“How does she look?” went on the talkative por-
ter. “Good Heavens, she’s a pretty thing, one must
admit; and,” he added pleasantly, “she has legs,
such legs that it is no wonder the men run after
her. Oh, how does she look? She has short black
hair, a white skin, and — Heavens, hqw shall I ex-
press it! — she looks like a vaudeville actress or
something of the kind. The devil take the women !”

Uncle Sam was getting noticeably uncertain in
mind.

“Short black hair, you say? About how old is
she?”

“Much too young for you, you may depend on
that !”

“And do you know her first name?” Sam went on
politely, though he felt a desire to give the im-
pertinent man a good box on the ear.

“You have me there! She has a lot of names, a
different one for everybody.”

“And where did you say the Mertens were living
now ?”

“Shortly after they had sold the drugstore, it
was the turn of the dwelling. There is a lot of
business in that nowadays. It is hard to pay for
lodgings, especially in a pretty, roomy building, if
a person to whom you let a room moves away.
After that they went to Vienna and now, so far as
I know, they are in Budapest. I recall, that is right.
Mertens recently wrote me about the coal which
was still in his cellar, and he mentioned that his
wife was again appearing at the — the — what do you
call it? — the Or. . .”

“The Orpheum, don’t you mean?” put in Uncle
Sam, who had a good knowledge of the world.
“And the address? Have you the letter still?”

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

21

The porter opened a drawer of his desk and
searched in a regular mountain of papers, while
Sam strove to bring his ideas to order. Had his
Gus been really attracted to such a woman — his
Gus, whom he loved as a father would his son. To
be sure, it often happens that intellectually gifted,
eminent men seem smitten with blindness when
women are in question. Yet he would certainly
have credited his brother-in-law with a better un-
derstanding of mankind.

“Here is the letter 1” The porter roused him
from his meditation and slowly spelled out the
words :

“Budapest, Szabolcs Utca number 54 — oh, read
it yourself! I don't know Hungarian.”

Sam readily believed that and wrote the address
in his notebook.

“One more thing: have you any idea what Mrs.
Mertens' maiden name was?”

“Yes, I know very well, for many of her cavaliers
knew her only by her maiden name and used to
ask whether a Miss Weiss did not live here.”

Old Sam’s knees shook. Weisz, the Hungarian
name Weisz, which the porter took for the Ger-
man name Weiss, was the name August Korf had
given him, the name of Natalka.

Thanking the porter, he gave him half a mark,
because he was always accustomed to be sparing
in the way of tips, and set out for his hotel.

Finkle Scores

H IS entire artfully formed hypothesis was trem-
bling in its foundation. He had set himself
up as a detective, luckily only to himself. He was
getting confused. What had he expected? What
was more natural than that Mrs. Mertens used to
have the maiden name Weisz? Why did this per-
son who was formerly assistant to his brother-in-
law and afterward married to the druggist Mertens
of Berlin concern him? Why did he think himself
pledged to shield this woman?

Truly, this Mrs. Mertens was not worthy of oc-
cupying the thoughts of Samuel Finkle. But — was
he really shielding Mrs. Mertens? It was in fact
only Natalka, whom Gus still cared for. His Gus,
whom he wished to free from the unexpressed re-
proach of having been attracted by an unworthy
and unintelligent woman.

Yet Natalka and this Mrs. Mertens were one and
the same person 1

In an ill humor he pushed into the crowded sub-
way car, worked his way among sharp hatpins and
glowing cigarettes, and finally came to a stop in
the crowd, firmly wedged between two tall gesticu-
lating natives of Berlin, who were chattering away
over his head. This disturbed Sam in his already
hopelessly confused reflections. Mechanically he
reached in his pocket, to protect his pipes from
being crushed, and in so doing felt Natalka’s letter
between his fingers.

Certainly there was something wrong about this
letter. But what?

Anxiously he held fast ts this idea and tried to
free it from the chaos into which all his logic was
threatening to sink. “Letter — letter,” he mur-
mured to himself, in order not to forget again that
connected with this letter there was something
wrong, about which he had to reflect.

At Nollendorf Square he had had enough of the
crowd, and he worked his way out of the car. With
amazed smiles those in the station watched the
slender little man who kept saying to himself “Let-
ter, letter” very audibly while rushing away as
though something hounded him on.

In exhaustion Sam threw himself on a bench. He
began to review his thoughts, and again a light
came to him.

“If Mrs. Mertens is identical with Natalka,” he
said aloud to himself, in the manner of an examiner
to a candidate, “why doesn’t she write to Korf
from Budapest? Why does she choose this unusual
detour by way of Berlin? Why does she tell about
a drugstore which long since has ceased to exist?
Why write these letters ahead of time at all? And
who posts them in Berlin on exactly the days which
are noted on the sealed envelopes? Can she have
someone in her confidence here, to look after these
letters ?”

Again he looked at the postmark. If was that of
the postoffice in Uhlandstrasse.

Perhaps it was this porter, who knew so much
and whose sense of honor and propriety had re-
quired some impetus from the tax collector on the
first floor to reach an ordinary and natural indigna-
tion! How could he have forgotten to make in-
quiries about this?

No sooner thought than done. He quickly set
out on the return trip. This time he did not take
the subway, the unpleasant mode of travel which
confused all his ideas, going on foot instead.

In astonishment the porter beheld his visitor re-
appear. His reception was not excessively friendly ;
the stingy half-mark piece had perceptibly lowered
his opinion of Mr. Finkle.

“Good Lord! What do you want this time?”

“I quite forgot to tell you my name, porter,” said
old Sam, determined to go the limit, “my name is
August Korf.”

“From Friedrichshafen?” blurted out the other in
surprise.

“Quite right, porter, from Friedrichshafen. As
you know, of course!” This was the man who
posted Mrs. Mertens’ letters. Calmly and confi-
dently Sam continued : “You still have a few more
letters from Mrs. Mertens to me. You may save
the postage. I’ll just take them with me.”

“But I am supposed to post the letters only on
certain days ! Besides, how do I know whether you
are really Mr. Korf?”

“How else should I know about the letters, my
good man? Besides, if you will not give me the let-
ters, the matter is not so important but that you
may put them in the stove, for all I care!” With
that Uncle Sam turned to go.

22

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

“Are you perhaps tired of the Mertens woman?”
cried the porter maliciously. “If you tell me your
exact address and what you say agrees with the
address of the letters, then for Heaven's sake take
the letters away ! I shall be glad to get rid of
them 1”

Slowly Finkle turned around, named the address
of his Friedrichshafen friend in a careless fashion,
and then received a little package, which he stowed
away in his breast pocket.

His good humor was restored as he left the
Uhlandstrasse lodging house, never to see it again.

The Dot In The Heavens

I N the afternoon, on Potsdam Square, there was
_ an apparently hopeless confusion of carriages,
automobiles, buses, and street cars. Noise, noise,
and still more noise ! From the Potsdam station
sounded the whistles of entering locomotives, but
they could not compete with the shrill yells of the
newsboys :

“Ber linger Zeitung , afternoon edition — Tageblatt — ■
Bijrsencourier — Berliner Zeitung.

Uncle Sam held his hands to his ears as he crossed
the busy square and turned into Leipziger Strasse.

“This accursed screaming!” he grumbled. “As
if there wasn’t enough noise without it, on that
windy corner!”

For a moment the calls of the newsboys were
hushed. Apparently they were receiving new sup-
plies of papers. But then they resounded again,
louder than before.

“Extra, telegraphic despatch, Berliner Zeitung!
Moon mystery solved! Discovery of rocket!"

Uncle Sam began to listen. The rocket discov-
ered? In his zealous performance as an amateur
detective he had entirely lost sight of the final ob-
ject of his investigations, the rocket. Hastily he
purchased one of these papers, still damp from the
press, and scanned it quickly.

“The Moon Rocket Found!”

<< A CCORDING to an announcement of the Lick
•tx Observatory in California, at about 5 A. M.
on September 9 (at noon of that day, by our time)
a dot of light, with a bluish glow, was observed in
the eastern sky, moving with great speed toward
the moon. At the moment of observation it was
about 200,000 kilometers from the earth.

“This is doubtless the Suchinow rocket, evidently
exhibiting a phase of illumination as the moon does,
at present appearing in the first quarter. This dem-
onstrates that the rocket has no illumination of its
own and has only become visible through the re-
flection of the sun’s rays. Thus is also explained
the previous failure in locating the rocket, which
apparently emerged from the shadow of the earth
only after thirty-five hours from the time of start-
ing.

“Since the Lick observation is dated about forty
hours after the start, and since in this time the rocket
had covered half of the entire distance to the moon,
the arrival at the moon might be calculated for to-

morrow morning at about five o’clock (Central
European Time). It is to be hoped that the sky
will be sufficiently clear for the observation of this
sensational event from our Babelsberg Observatory
likewise.

"In order to spare our readers a disappointment
we warn them beforehand that there is of course
no possibility of witnessing this event with the
naked eye. Even in the gigantic telescope of the
Lick Observatory, with an enlargement of more
than a thousand times, the rocket appeared only as
a tiny, hardly perceptible dot of light. Accordingly
it will be rather pointless to look at the sky during
the night with field glasses and opera glasses.”

Uncle Sam slowly and carefully folded up the
sheet and put it in his pocket. Then he went to a
cafe to refresh himself, mind and body, for further
activity.

It was remarkable — eighty hours from the earth
to the moon ! This was exactly the time required
by the Zeppelin sent across the Atlantic in its voy-
age from Friedrichshafen to Lakehurst.

Was there perchance some one up there in that
fragile object, about to visit the moon by morning?

Then his thoughts returned to the porter in
Uhlandstrasse. What a shameless fellow! Yet
Sam bore him no ill will, since he had furnished
valuable information. Now he knew that — well,
what did he really know? That Mrs. Mertens was
Natalka, and Natalka Mrs. Mertens? Was the mat-
ter not actually made very involved merely through
this “explanation”?

He took out the package of letters. Eight en-
velopes, all bearing Korf’s address in the familiar
strong handwriting, all identical, even to the heavy
line under the word "Friederichshafen,” which was
exactly repeated in width and direction. There
could no longer be any doubt: all the letters had
been written at the same time with the same ink.

“Fine doings!” said Uncle Sam to himself. “Writ-
ing a dozen letters at once ! No wonder that noth-
ing brilliant results. Still, it indicates energy and
persistence.”

Then he studied the dates written in the corners
where the stamps would be placed. He was in-
terested to note how long a time Natalka had in-
tended these tender attentions to his Gus.

“Great! This woman actually reasons! Of
course she could not break off the correspondence
suddenly. That would have attracted attention.
Accordingly she lets the intervals become greater
and greater, and the correspondence gradually goes
to sleep. Well! This Natalka is not so foolish as
might be expected from the contents of the letters.”

He had a great desire to open the envelopes. But
he did not venture to intrude into the secrets of his
brother-in-law. Korf might not like that.

“After all, I can well imagine what .there is to
read in them,” Sam comforted himself. Then he
continued with his plans. For a long time he re-
flected, formed schemes and rejected them, planned
like the keenest criminologist, and by the time he
left the cafe had a decision firmly settled.

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

23

First he went to a telegraph office, where he sent
two telegrams to Budapest and one to Mr. Su-
chinow, Transcosmos, Bucharest.

After he had procured a berth on a sleeper to
.Vienna, he went to his hotel, told the amazed clerk
that he did not require the room he had engaged,
and repacked his suitcase.

Whistling merrily, he went to the Silesian rail-
road station.

CHAPTER V
A Financier’s Worries

D OUBTLESS everyone who has visited Bu-
charest, that city of many bridges on the
Dimbovita River, knows the Calei Victoria,
the great street for loafing and afternoon meetings,
as well as the world-famous confectionery store of
Riegeler.

Bucharest, the Calei Victoria, and Riegeler are
ideas just as inseparable as Munich, the October
Festival, and the Hofbrau.

At Riegeler’s there is always a swarm of people,
no matter at what time of day you enter the long
room. Here young ladies eat sundaes; here high-
collared bankers sit, having left the near-by stock
exchange for a soda ; here the talkative middle-aged
ladies, who seem international and are to be found
all over the world, knit countless stockings and
demolish mountains of cakes and sugared almonds ;
here connoisseurs of all nations revel in the sym-
phonies of refined sweets, the secrets of which do
not seem to escape from this confectionery store.

In Roumania everyone is fond of nibbling, even
more than elsewhere, and it seems very natural
for even the countryman to stay to look at these
splendors. Carefully dressed, cane in hand, they sit
by the hour at the little marble tables and rever-
ently enjoy the latest Riegeler collation.

In this place, in the late afternoon of September
tenth, we find Romano Vacarescu in eager con-
versation with the general director of the Trans-
cosmos Stock Company, Dimitri Suchinow.

The conversation seemed to be rather one-sided.
The corpulent little financier held Suchinow firmly
by a coat-button, pushed him down on a chair, and
spoke eagerly to him. Suchinow hardly listened;
he was in a hurry. He wished to see whether there
was any more correspondence in his new office in
the Calei Victoria, and then he meant to go out to
the observatory. The air today was clear and
transparent, offering a perfect observation, which
today was the more important, because during the
night the rocket must enter the sphere of attraction
of the moon.

He was excited and nervous, feeling little desire
to listen to the lamentations of the man who cared
less about the fate of the rocket than about the rise
or fall of his stocks.

“One more thing. Monsieur Suchinow! Is the
undertaking to be described now as halfway to
success? You know, I have signed the majority of
the Transcosmos stock. The last three days of un-

certainty have so affected its market value that. .

“Good Lord, yes!” cried Suchinow, to prevent
further details. “To be sure, the rocket shows a
considerably smaller velocity than I had first ex-
pected.”

“Consequently. . . . ?”

“Merely a longer time for the trip, if . . . .” He
seemed to be seeking suitable words.

“If?” insisted Vacarescu in mingled anxiety and
impatience. He moved nearer, in order not to miss
a word of the inventor’s explanation.

“If the rocket does not get too near the moon.
But Skoryna will take care.”

“But if he does get too near, what then ?”

The financier bent over, close to the face of Su-
chinow, as though he w'ould breathe in the reply
from his lips.

“Do you suppose it possible for the rocket to
strike the moon?”

“By no means. It will only be more difficult and
will take time to get away from the moon again!”
was the cautious answer.

“What is the percentage of probability of the
rocket’s safe return?”

“Are you going to calculate the future of your
stocks accordingly?” said Suchinow in a jesting
manner which excited Vacarescu.

“You certainly have nothing to lose by it. All
you can do is gain. But my money, my dear fellow,
may stick to the moon overnight. I tell you, as
soon as the stock is at par, I shall let go. I have
had enough of the ‘shot into infinity,’ and I should
not care to go through these past days again.”
Vacarescu cried this loudly and snorted with rage.

“Calm yourself, sir! We are not on the stock
exchange. Besides, you are mistaken in your appor-
tioning of the risks. Don’t I hazard losing far more
than you?” said Suchinow sharply. There was a
deep vertical .furrow' on his brow.

“Indeed!” laughed Vacarescu scornfully.

“In case of a catastrophe my whole life’s work is
destroyed, and — Skoryna! You forget that a hu-
man life is at stake.”

“Which costs me twenty thousand pounds. Is
that nothing?”

“We will not quarrel. Monsieur Vacarescu, espe-
cially now, w'hen we may have every hope that
the expedition will end successfully.. Good bye,
sir !”

Quickly Suchinow escaped from the fat man. He
made his way among the marble tables out into the
open air and hurried across the boulevard without
looking around. Vacarescu, with his financial wor-
ries, was getting tiresome. There was in truth more
at stake than a few thousand pounds.

Uncertainty

T HE flight of the rocket did not satisfy Suchinow.

To be sure, the start had taken place smoothly.
Under the backward pressure of the rapidly suc-
cessive explosions of the energy cartridges the tor-
pedo-shaped space-ship had risen, its speed becom-

24

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

mg greater and greater, until after just a minute it
disappeared in the clouds.

All this had taken place according to the pro-
gram. Since the initial acceleration was not exces-
sive, it could not have hurt Skoryna much. But
the failure of the lighting system caused Suchinow
to reflect. Apparently Skoryna had not succeeded
in eliminating the trouble. And why had he sent
to earth none of the radio messages for which Such-
inow had waited in nerve-wracking tension? Now
the rocket had long since left the reception field of
the most powerful stations on earth, not to speak
of the impossibility for the tiny sender on the rocket
reaching back to earth. Yet in the first few hours
after starting Skoryna could have sent word, which
would have meant certainty as to the outcome of
the shot. This fearful uncertainty of the first days
had been ruinous to Suchinow’s nerves.

Disappointment, as well as the distrust of the
whole civilized world, did not matter to him. But
what of this observation by the Lick telescope, from
which could be calculated for the first half of the
total distance an average speed of only 1,400 meters
a second ? According to his own figures the rocket
would have needed to develop an average speed of
2,400 meters. With this the crossing of the equil-
ibrium point between the earth and the moon, where
gravity does not exist, would be guaranteed at about
500 meters a second. Then the free fall to the
moon would take place in a weak hyperbola, and
the risk of being held by the moon in a closed el-
lipse would be banished.

Now, however, not much more than half of the
necessary speed had been produced. The fuel pro-
vided for the ascent would certainly not suffice to

carry the rocket past the limit of attraction of the
earth. To what extent would Skoryna be forced to
draw on the reserve supply, and would the re-
mainder of the dynamic cartridges still suffice to
pass the limit of gravity again on the return trip, to
break the free fall to earth sufficiently, and to make
possible a safe landing?

Suchinow trembled at the thought that Skoryna
might overlook this tremendous danger or rashly
cast discretion to the winds.

In that case there would be only two possibilities :
either the rocket on the return trip would escape
from the moon’s field of gravity with its last energy,
which would so lessen the supply of cartridges that
it would fall to the earth, without sufficient braking
energy, and would be smashed to bits, or else it
would remain bound to the moon, circling about it
as a satellite, eternally ....

What then?

The rocket contained food, in the form of con-
centrated pellets, which would suffice for months.
There was also ample provision for oxygen. In
the meantime a second space ship could be built
to come to the rescue. But in the solitude of space,
without communication with the earth, in uncer-
tainty as to his fate, was it not absolutely certain
that Skoryna would become insane? And would
Vacarescu risk any more money on a second model?
The Transsylvania Company was out of the ques-
tion, after the founding of the Transcosmos Com-
pany. After all, would not the second rocket meet
the same fate as the first?

Suchinow’s blood boiled. He must now not lose

Quicker and ever quicker the ship rushed ahead. After half with a speed many times that of an express train. In ten
a second it was taking the incline. It raced up the slope, seconds it was past the kilometer mark. It was an over-

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

25

'whelming sight, A sea of yellowish light flooded the
densely packed multitude. An outburst of thunderous ap-

plause followed the space ship. As if lifted by spirit hands,
the fiery figure sped obliquely upward in its mad course.

his calm ; he’d just have to keep clear headed ! Good
Heavens, he simply must not break down ! If only
he had not yielded to Skoryna’s impetuous urgings
and had sent instead a model without a passenger 1

Yet his fears were perhaps in vain. Surely Skor-
yna would have recognized his position and would
avoid being entrapped by the moon. At a
distance he could circle about it as often as he
pleased. That would not require any energy or at
most only a couple of discharges for steering
poses, not, of course, significant in amount. Skor-
yna would doubtless recognize and carry out the
proper course.

Suchinow sought to calm himself with these anil
similar thoughts, but he was not
tormenting worries.

Quickly he crossed
the rooms of his office
on the Calei Victoria,
noisy with typewriters
and still smelling of
paint and varnish. He
locked himself in his
private office.

Here or in the
observatory he had
spent the last few
days and nights as well, since he could
not sleep. In exhaustion he sank into
the big armchair before the desk. He
had several hours free, since it was at
ten o’clock he was expected at the ob-
servatory.

Mechanically he glanced at the tap-
. estries on the walls, at the pretty re-
naisance clock, and the huge globe in
the corner. Then his head sank down, and imper-
ious nature compelled him to sleep.

He was roused by a gentle knock at the door,
it?”

sir.

opened the envelope and read the
as it in sudden terror he started up, tore
ihe innocent little paper which seemed to
him unpleasant news, and strode up
office on the thick rug which muffled

26

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

his steps.

•‘Damnation, there is something wrong there!”
he muttered through his clenched teeth. “That is
the last straw!”

With a groan he threw himself again upon the
chair, picked the scraps of the telegram out of the
wastebasket, and reached for his timetable.

CHAPTER VI
Discoveries

W HEN Samuel Finkle reached Budapest, he
took one of the cabs which stood in a very
long row at the station and drove to the
hotel in which he had engaged a room by telegraph.

He would greatly have preferred taking a stroll
by the Danube, to refresh himself after the long
trip. Then he would drink a glass of Tokay in one
of the cafe gardens near the river promenade and
look across the wide blue stream, whose water re-
flects the fortress of Alt-Ofen and the charming
villas of the Budapest magnates, rising from a sea
of green. He would have taken pleasure in the
vivid striking elegance of the piquant Hungarian
women, who in the afternoon crowd the river
district.

Uncle Sam had no time for that. There was so
much to be done today, and at the stroke of six all
had to be ready.

“Room forty-six !” said the German-speaking
clerk of the hotel. The elevator took Sam to the
second floor, while a bellboy brought his suitcase
and showed him the room.

Uncle Sam subjected his lodging to a careful and
detailed examination, doubtless such as he had
never before given a hotel room. A small living
room with an adjoining bedroom made up the
“apartment" which he had engaged by telegram.
The bed was miserable, the room telephone did not
work, and the light switches were so badly placed
that the light could not be put out from the bed.
These were matters which ordinarily would have
Very properly displeased old Sam and have caused
him to subject the price of the room to a revision.

This time, however, his demands seemed to be in
other directions. First of all he was interested in
the communication door between living room and
bedroom, which was covered by a thick heavy
curtain. The door could stand open without its
being noticed from the living room.

The bedroom had no other entrance and
could be reached only through the living room.
Then he tested the electric light. The chandelier
in the living room had four bulbs, which were con-
trolled by a rotary switch and could be lighted
singly or all together. Since only three of the bulbs
were sound, however, he removed the one in the
reading lamp in the bedroom and screwed it into
the chandelier in place of the defective bulb.

Blinking he tried the illumination in the now fully
lighted room, the bright walls of which diffused
the light. After he had measured the rosm by pac-
ing it, he turned off the light again and left the

hotel, evidently satisfied by his investigations.

He did not now turn to the river promenade but
firmly repressed his inclination for strolling and
entered a small photographic store on the square.

“Have you an Ermanox?" he asked the young
salesman, who did not understand German and
looked at him in surprise.

“Have you an Ermanox camera?” he asked re-
peatedly, noticing soon that the young man recog-
nized the name Ermanox. Since Sam could make
nothing of the Hungarian answer, he ran the gamut
of his linguistic knowledge :

“Do you speak English — parla italiano — parlez-
vous frangais — sti rumineste?”

Immediately the salesman began to speak a stum-
bling high school French and explained that un-
fortunately he did not carry Ernemann apparatus
but that he could furnish a number of other first
class makes.

“But I need a camera with very great illumina-
tion 1” said Sam. “If possible, I want one with the
opening 1 :2 !” This the man could not furnish.

He tried his luck in several stores. Finally he
found a large specialty store where he obtained the
desired Ernemann Ermanox. He also bought some
ultra-rapid plates, which he at once had placed in
the holders.

Arriving again in the hotel, he so set up the
camera that the lens commanded the living room, in
case the curtain was pushed aside a little.

Then he hastened down stairs and instructed the
porter to take to his living room visitors who asked
for Mr. Suchinow or Mrs. Mertens.

“I have a little errand to do and shall be back
shortly. Then can be patient for a short time and
wait for me in the living room,” he said carelessly,
as the porter noted down the names, and then
walked out of the front door.

Once outside, he circled around the hotel, return-
ed to his room by way of the restaurant and the
back stairs, switched on all the lights in the living
room, darkened the bedroom, and drew the curtain
across the doorway. Then he sat down in the dark
bedroom beside the Ermanox camera and waited.

It was shortly before six o’clock. There was a
crafty smile on his wrinkled face. “I hope they do
come !” he thought, yawning. His old habit led him
to. put his hand in his pocket and draw out a half
colored meerschaum pipe. He only came to realiza-
tion as he was just in the act of striking a match.
“Don’t be foolish, Sam !’’ he said to himself and laid
the pipe down at a distance, in order not to be
tempted again.

Finkle’s patience was given a hard test. For half
an hour he sat in the dark, without his pipe, terribly
bored. Then steps approached outside in the corri-
dor. The door of the living room opened.

“If you please, madam, will you wait . here a little
while,” said someone in French. Clothing rustled,
and such a cloud of perfume came to Sam’s nostrils
that he had trouble in suppressing a sneeze. Trip-
ping footsteps were audible, then a gentle sigh and
the squeaking of the sofa springs.

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

27

Father and Daughter

AM cautiously peeped through the curtain.
“Good Lord !” escaped him, luckily not aloud.
The porter in Uhlandstrasse had not said too much.
This lady, dressed in the latest style of close fitting
grey autumn dress, sitting on the sofa and thought-
fully tapping the floor with the points of her patent
leather shoes, was certainly a pretty little thing.
Very black hair, cut short but very thick and comb-
ed straight back from her forehead, set off a white
girlish face, the softness of which was sharply con-
trasted with the sensuous and rather pouting lips
and the perfectly formed neck, which suggested a
slim but very shapely figure. She had crossed her
legs, and her dress, which had slipped up to her
knee, revealed shapely slender legs, in chiffon stock-
ings, the lines of which quite confused old Sam’s
thoughts. Of course the lady believed herself alone
and unobserved, and he was getting somewhat
ashamed of his unworthy position as a spy.

Was it Natalka? She certainly did not look like
a woman who understood science. Sam cautiously
snapped the camera. A slight click, which was
smothered by the ticking of the clock, and the first
step toward proof was secured. Quickly and quiet-
ly he changed the plate holder.

The lady opened her red morocco case and lighted
a cigarette, the fine blue clouds of which penetrated
the curtain and awakened in Sam a new desire for
his pipe. “A detective has a hard time!” he re-
flected sorrowfully, picking up his pipe to have at
least a “cold smoke.”

Time passed, and the lady seemed to be getting
impatient. Sam saw her take a paper from her
pocketbook and read it. "Aha !” he thought with a
grin. “My telegram !”

Suddenly the door was hurriedly opened, the lady
uttered a soft cry, and a tall thin man entered quick-
ly, his face strangely dotted with green. “He seems
to have been gassed!” murmured Sam, remember-
ing this type of injury at the time of the world war.
“Perhaps the energy cartridges have poisoned him !”

Attentively he listened to the lively conversation
which took place in the next room. Unfortunately,
they were speaking a language which he did not
understand, apparently Russian. That was fatal,
and he tried to read some meaning in the gestures
and acts of his guests.

Suchinow, for it was certainly he, hastily kissed
the lady on the forehead ; he seemed to be in an ex-
tremely bad temper, and his voice sounded harsh
and even imperious. Mrs. Mertens twittered like a
swallow, pouted, and several times pointed her
finger at her head. Then they both spoke at the
same time, as though trying to drown out the
other’s words, and finally Mrs. Mertens held the
telegram before the man’s eyes.

“Now’s the time!” thought Uncle Sam, having
his camera in readiness and snapping it just as the
two quarrellers turned their faces in his direction.
To be more certain, he took a second picture. Then
he moved the tripod aside, put in his pocket the

holders of the three exposed plates, and peeped
again through the curtain.

Suchinow was just holding the perplexing tele-
gram in his hand and reading it !

“Expect me Friday evening six sharp Imperial
Hotel Budapest. Suchinow.”

Samuel Finkle came near uttering a cry of joy.
Suchinow, doubtless because of the excitement
caused by the telegram, was now speaking French,
and both conversed in this tongue, so that now Sam
was able to understand everything.

“And you believed that, you goose !”

“Oho, what you lack in politeness!” said Sam
to himself with a grin, making a parody of a line in
a popular piece.

“Why shouldn’t I?” cried Mrs. Mertens, stamp-
ing her foot.

“You knew perfectly well that I was in Buchar-
est, and the telegram came from Berlin! You
might have known that something was wrong!”

“That is just why I took the matter so seriously.
If you are in Berlin, said I to myself, there are im-
portant and surely very unpleasant reasons!” With
a smile the slim piquant creature added: “Besides,
my dear sir, didn’t you get caught by the same
trick?”

“You may be sure that I should not have crossed
the Carpathians unless I by chance had business at
the Magyar Bank here.”

“What simply charming logic!” said Mrs. Mer-
tens, dancing a few shimmy steps. Then she took a
small comb from her pocketbook and calmly re-
arranged her hair before the mirror.

Suchinow walked up and down thoughtfully. He
seemed to be undergoing some inner struggle, and
the most vivid anxiety appeared on his careworn
face.

“Then the other telegram is not from you?”

“No! — Besides, you are looking very poorly,
father; you ought to take things easier,” warbled
Mrs. Mertens.

Uncle Sam rubbed his hands. “Did she say
‘father’?” The mystery was beginning to become
clear.

“Quit that silly talk; I have something to think
about besides my complexion. Have you still the
letters for Korf?”

“I left them in Berlin, in a safe place.”'

“With whom ?” asked Suchinow curtly.

“With our former porter.”

“Does the man know ....?” said he, while his
glance was threateningly directed at his daughter’s
pretty eyes.

“Nothing from me, anyway,” she answered snip-
pily.

“From whom else, then ? Doubtless the man has
betrayed something. That comes from trusting
silly women.”

“My dear father, I did not ask to be trusted. If
you are not more polite, I shall simply leave you
here and go. What do I care about your whole
business? Don’t bother me with your mysterious
activities.

28

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

Mrs. Mertens, still occupied at the mirror until
this moment, now executed an elegant turn on her
heel, put her hands in the little pockets of her coat,
and looked imperiously at her father.

Uncle Sam was sorry for the man, as he relent-
lessly walked back and forth, cudgelling his brains
to get on the track of the sender of the telegrams.
“Don’t take the trouble, sir!” he thought, as Su-
chinow picked up the telephone, only to throw it
back on the hook again angrily, after several at-
tempts to get a connection.

“The porter must know who occupies these
rooms,” he said, gnashing his teeth. “Woe to the
fellow who has dared intrude in my affairs ! Let us
go ; there is nothing to be learned here.”

Sam waited a while longer, after they had gone.
Then he crept out from his hiding place, put out
all the lights, and left the hotel by way of the back
stairs and restaurant. His first visit was to the
Ernemann store, the work-rooms of which were for-
tunately not yet closed. They shook their heads
at Finkle’s demand, on which he absolutely insisted,
that the three plates must be developed and printed
this very night

“The prints will not even be dry in this short
time.”

“Then I shall simply take them wet, and it will be
all right. They must be delivered in my hotel to-
morrow morning by seven o’clock. Please keep the
plates for me carefully. If I desire any more prints,
I shall write.”

He was unwilling to be put off by evasions, and
he managed to obtain the promise that his work
would be performed.

Sam breathed easier when he had left the store.
He had done enough for today, and he was satisfied
with his success. In youthful exuberance he spread
out his arms and cried: “Now, you merry city of
carefree pleasure, now I can see you !”

CHAPTER VII
A Confession

I T was long after midnight when old Sam re-
turned to his hotel. The porter, sleepy-eyed
and yawning behind his hand, informed him
that a lady had come in the evening, who asked for
Mr. Suchinow, and soon afterward a gentleman,
who asked for Mrs. Mertens. They had waited
a rather long time. Later the gentleman had come
several times and had insisted on seeing Dr. Finkle.
The porter had pointed out, however, that the Doc-
tor had gone out shortly after five and had not yet
returned.

“Unfortunately I was detained by various busi-
ness affairs,” said Sam, well pleased. “Is the
gentleman coming again ?”

“I believe so.”

“Very well, please inform me as soon as he is
here.”

The porter doubtless had his own ideas about the
business which had detained him after midnight,

but he wisely kept them to himself, only betraying
them by a slight smile.

During the night Sam did no more thinking and
planning. He had hardly pulled the bed clothes up
around his neck, when he fell fast asleep. The
heavy Tokay wine had done its work.

The sun was high in the heavens when he awoke
the next morning. It was almost ten o’clock. He
hastily jumped out of bed and dressed himself. On
the table was a great yellow envelope from the
Ernemann store.

“Then there really wasn’t such a hurry,” he
thought, “since Mr. Suchinow does not seem to
have been here yet But it is best to be ready!”

He opened the envelope and made an enjoyable
examination of the pictures. They had come out
well, sharply defined and sufficiently lighted. It
made a really comic impression on him to find that
one picture, showing Mrs. Mertens and Mr. Such-
inow at the height of their quarrel, depicted the
lady, obviously very excited, holding a piece of
paper befofe the eyes of the man, while her other
hand hung in the air in a violent gesture. The
perplexed face of Suchinow was very funny.

“Humor is necessary !” philosophized old Sam, as
he rang for breakfast.

Meanwhile Dimitri Suchinow was coming up to
the porter in the lobby.

“Can I now see Dr. Finkle?” he asked brusquely.

“Certainly,” the porter hastened to reply, “he is
expecting you. I shall immediately inform him of
your arrival.”

“He is expecting me?” muttered Suchinow, tak-
ing a seat in a corner of the almost empty lobby.
“The shameless man !”

Sam appeared only after some time. He could
not deny himself the pleasure of having a little re-
venge for the long wait the previous day in the
dark bedroom.

He went straight up to Suchinow. “Mr. Su-
chinow?” said he.

“You know me?”

“Yes, indeed! — I am Dr. Samuel Finkle,” said
he, by way of introduction. For a while the two
adversaries looked fixedly at each other. Suchinow
tried to hide his worry and excitement by a rough
manner, whereas Sam showed himself as sociable
and unconcerned as ever, and his manner did not in-
dicate that he was enjoying himself very much.

“Shall we not sit down ?” asked Sam politely. “I
think we have all kinds of things to say.”

“Our conversation can only be very brief, sir.
What right have you to meddle with my affairs?
Your silly jest with the concocted telegrams has
cost me two days, two precious days which cannot
be replaced. I demand an explanation and satisfac-
tion !”

Suchinow spoke quickly and sharply, and there
was a threatening flash in his dark eyes.

“I am ready for any satisfaction, sir!” replied
Finkle calmly. “I advise you, however, to lower
your voice a little. Things might be mentioned
which for your interest had better remain heard

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

29

only by ourselves.”

Suchinow grew a trifle pale.

“What do you mean?” he burst out. “I beg
you to . . .”

“Mr. Suchinow!” Sam interrupted him quickly.
“Shall I send this photograph to Mr. August Korf
in Friedrichshafen ?”

The name of Korf affected Suchinow like a blow.
With trembling hands he took the picture which
Sam held out to him. Then he sank with a groan
upon a chair and pressed his hands to his temples^
Sam waited quietly until Suchinow slowly raised
his head again. He was startled by the pale face
and fevered eyes.

“You spied on ps,” he said feebly; “that is in-
famous !”

“We will not argue as to whether this was in-
famous or not, sir!” said Sam politely, almost cor-
dially. “Proper and infamous are relative ideas, re-
garding which opinions may be very different.
Anyway, I know just how matters stand !”

“What are you going to do?”

“That depends on you, sir !”

“What do you desire?” asked Suchinow quickly,
and a ray of hope crossed his face.

Old Sam himself did not know what kept him
from crushing this man, who doubtless had a theft
on his conscience.

“You are mistaken as to my identity. I am Korf’s
brother-in-law.”

Suchinow sank back again, a picture of hopeless
despair. “How did you learn that I was connected
with Mrs. Mertens?” he said softly.

“Through a postage stamp which was badly stuck
on,” replied Sam. Then he added : “Mr. Suchinow,
are you willing to answer a few questions for me?”
“Go ahead and ask!”

“Do you give me your word of honor that your
replies will be the exact truth ?”

“My word of honor?” asked Suchinow, mocking-
ly. “Can my word of honor still signify anything
to you ?”

“I see in Mr. Suchinow not a villain but a man
who has been the prey of his own immeasurable
ambition,” said Finkle calmly, watching the effect
of these words. Suchinow bit his lips.

“Good! 1 give you my word of honor! Just
ask!”

A Word of Honor

F INKLE waited a while, in order to arrange his
ideas. He could not conceal from himself the fact
that he pitied the careworn haggard man, ambitious
and doubtless talented, now witnessing the ruin of
his hopes and the complete failure of his life’s work
when success seemed just at hand.

“Mrs. Mertens is your daughter?” he began the
inquiry.

“Yes.”

“But her maiden name is Weisz, not Suchinow?”
“She bore the name of her deceased mother, a
movie actress' of Budapest, who was never my
wife.”

Sam was pleased with the frankness with which
Suchinow touched on so delicate a theme.

“The correspondence with Korf doubtless was in-
tended to keep him from further investigation, was
it not?”

“This question I cannot answer.”

“Very well. Here is something else. Is the
rocket carrying any persons?”

“An engineer named Skoryna, a close connection
of mine, is guiding the machine.” Sam thought that
at these words he perceived unfeigned sorrow in
the expression of the Russian.

“How is your undertaking financed ?”

“By the Transcosmos Stock Company, the
founder and chief stockholder of which is the Rou-
manian oil magnate, Romano Vacarescu. But why
do you ask questions about things which are com-
mon talk in Bucharest ?”

“It is more convenient for me to get information
directly from you. Besides,” said Sam with a smile,
“you probably would hardly answer other ques-
tions.”

Suchinow did not reply, and Sam continued :
“What will be the financial consequences for
Vacarescu in case your rocket comes to grief?”
“The shares of the company would then be as
good as valueless, that is obvious. Besides that, the
insurance deposit for Skoryna would be due. Va-
carescu has opened an account at the Magyar Bank,
from which twenty thousand English pounds are
payable if Skoryna’s death is demonstrated or if the
rocket does not return within a year from the start.”
“Payable to whom ?”

“That is something I do not know. Skoryna has
deposited the disposal of this sum under seal in the
Magyar Bank.”

“And if the rocket returns safely?”

“Then Vacarescu is practically the sole owner of
the first space ship company in the world. The
value of the enterprise would rapidly increase.”
“And you?”

"I am and remain the technical head of the Trans-
cosmos Company.”

Uncle Sam arose, satisfied with what he had
heard.

“Thank you for your information, Mr. Suchinow.

I should like to make you a proposal, not unlike a
truce. I cannot promise to regard the entire affair
as closed, but I am willing to refrain from making
matters public so long as you do not interfere with
my undertakings and remain absolutely neutral,
whatever may happen. I do not need to point out
again that I have means of countering immediately
and effectively any intrigues on your part. Never-
theless, I ask for your word.”

“My word, sir,” said Suchinow calmly. For an
instant the two men gazed at each other. Then
.Finkle bowed slightly and withdrew. He had the
conviction that the Russian would keep his word.

Suchinow remained a while longer, deep in
thought. Then he suddenly jumped up and hast-
ened away madly. An auto took him to the flying

30

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

field, where the Aero-Union plane was just getting
ready for the flight to Bucharest
Three hours later he was entering his offices in
the Calei Victoria.

CHAPTER VIII
The Drive Begins

T HE drive for money to construct the Korf
space ship was started. In all the papers ap-
peared warm appeals, written by Director
Heyse, calling to mind the fate of the Graf Zep-
pelin and addressed to the national spirit of the
country.

On the occasion of the meeting of the Society
of German Engineers, Heyse (who was a member
of the board of directors) took the opportunity to
make an impressive appeal on behalf of Korf’s pro-
ject, closing with these words :

“ . . . . The Dirigible, the Graf Zeppelin, years
ago spread over the whole earth the fame of Ger-
man spirit, German technique, and German work,
so that our former enemies recognized that this na-
tion was alive, despite all suppression.

“And now the lofty music of German ability shall
resound to the canopy of stars — in distant unknown
worlds the German colors shall shine and announce
that this nation lives 1”

A thunder of applause stormed about the speaker,
whose heart became light, while inspiration carried
him away.

But it is quick work for the dullness of every day
to swallow up the inspiration of a festival occasion.
It is one thing to be present at a festive gathering,
in evening dress and starched shirt, listening to a
speaker with enthusiasm, as he says, “We will be a
united nation of all brothers!” But it is quite an-
other to sit in an office, in shirt sleeves, behind a
heap of unsettled law papers, wishing some Meier
or Huber (who found something missing in the last
delivery) carried off to the place where pepper
grows.

To be sure, Heyse’s appeal had not been without
effect. But many a patriot of the drinking table,
actually overflowing with enthusiasm on occasion,
felt Heyse’s words deep in his heart and still seemed
to find an unavoidable hindrance to subscription in
the shape of an unfilled pocketbook.

Funds came in slowly and weakly, in very small
amounts, though all the larger newspapers had
come to the aid of the enterprise, opening and pub-
lishing lists of subscribers.

Neverthless, Korf was not deterred from starting
the construction. He hoped that greater sums
would come in from somewhere. Councillor Heyse
tirelessly showed the Stuttgart officials in detail how
much the great construction at Lake Constance
would enliven the dull demand for labor, giving
hundreds who were out of work at least temporary
employment and pay. Promises were made to keep
it in mind, to talk it over with the representative of
the central government ; they would see what could
be done. But for the moment that was all.

The failure of the public to subscribe was 'due in

part to the uncertainty as to the success of the Su-
chinow rocket, which was everywhere the usual
topic of conversation. They were too much inclined
to identify the space rocket with Korf’s space ship.

* * *

The great mathematics lecture room of the tech-
nical college in Munich was full to overflowing. The
audience sat packed in the long rows of seats, people
crowded the aisle, and hundreds had to turn
around again on the stairs, since it was impossible
to find even the smallest standing room in the great
hall.

August Korf was speaking of the problem of spa-
tial navigation and its solution.

On the platform stood the broadshouldered maip-
whose name had been so often mentioned. His
clear, grey eyes surveyed the gathering, while be-
tween his fingers was rolling a piece of chalk. He
calmly waited until the unrest in the hall was stilled.

Then he began:

“Ladies and gentlemen ! The rocket of the Rus-
sian engineer Suchinow has shown mankind that a
trip to the moon has been removed from the realm
of fiction and made reality.”

There was absolute stillness in the auditorium.
As though enchanted, all eyes were on the speaker’s
lips.

“The shot into infinity is nothing absolutely
new. Decades ago eminent physicists busied
themselves with this problem and indicated its so-
lution as perfectly possible after the overcoming of
a few technical difficulties.

“The first and simplest projects of this sort de-
pended on sending a body from the earth at such
speed that, passing the field of attraction of the
earth, it would not fall back again upon our planet.
But this idea had to remain impossible, except in
phantasies of the Jules Verne type, since the entire
necessary speed of not less than twelve kilometers
a second would have to be given such a shot right
at the start. Quite apart from the fact that no liv-
ing creature can endure such acceleration, even the
construction of such a giant cannon belongs in the
realm of fancy.

“A serviceable means is provided by the rocket,
however, whose effect depends on the recoil of ex-
plosion gases flowing with great force through nar-
row exhaust pipes. The motion ol the rocket is not
caused by the fact that the gases issuing out push
on the air ; on the contrary, it is based on the purely
mechanical law of the maintenance of the centre
of gravity. This is the same law which conditions
the recoil in the case of fireworks. Accordingly, the
rocket principle does not fail to act in airless empty
space but on the other hand develops its greatest
efficiency right there, since air resistance and earth
attraction alone hinder the motion of the rocket.”

Korf’s Appeal

K ORF then covered the two great blackboards of
the lecture hall with sketches and formulas, by
which he explained the operation and construction
of the space rocket.

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

31

“You see,” he went on, “it is perfectly possible to
send a rocket relatively slowly from the earth. That
is, the acceleration will be such that the human
system can endure its pressure. Since the amount
of fuel to be taken along is limited by the practic-
ability of the apparatus ; everything depends on the
kind of fuel and its latent chemical energy.

“My earlier experiments showed that a certain
mixture of powerful explosive powder produces an
intensity sufficient to carry a properly constructed
rocket beyond the limit of gravity, provided the
machine is very quickly (in little more than a min-
ute, that is) brought from the condition of rest to
the necessary speed of twelve kilometers a second.
In this case thq acceleration pressure becomes
effective, completely excluding the carrying of hu-
man beings or at least subjecting the lives of the
crew to this extreme utmost risk. Prolonging the
time of the start would certainly remove this dan-
ger-; it would, however, naturally have the result
that the rocket would have to struggle so much
longer against the field of gravity of the earth and
would be compelled to use up its fuel before attain-
ing the speed necessary for finally passing from the
earth’s field.

“Whether Mr. Suchinow has been able to strike
a satisfactory balance betwen these two possibili-
ties, I do not know.

“Things are otherwise with my space ship. . . .”

A stir which ran through the hall caused the
speaker to wait a few moments until the multitude
was absolutely silent again. Then he continued :

“To be sure, the machine which I have planned
depends also on the rocket principle. Yet after
long struggles and missteps I have finally succeeded
in making an arrangement using liquid fuel as a
source of energy instead of powder energy car-
tridges. Therewith the problem of conquering the
solar system has come an immense stride closer to
realization. For my combination of hydrogen, alco-
hol and oxygen affords per kilogram almost three
times as much energy as the same amount of the
best available nitrocellulose powder, the expulsion
speed being over 5,000 meters a second.

“And it depends on this alone.”

Again there was a whispering among the hearers.
After the previous explanations it was clear to
everyone what this fact meant for the safety of the
crew, indeed, that by this means the entire question
of spatial navigation was for the very first time ap-
proaching a satisfactory solution.

With satisfaction Korf observed the impression
produced by his announcement. He continued
speaking for about an hour more. Forcefully he
tried to convince both the public and the scientists
of the practicability of his ideas and to stifle at the
start any possible doubt by giving unquestionable
calculations, keeping secret only the final details of
construction.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am drawing my talk to
a close. The first aim of my space ship is the en-
circling of the moon. It is, however, no longer
doubtful that with the machine which I have ex-

plained, actual cosmic speeds may be attained,
sometimes making use of the field of gravity of the
sun. And we may rightly hope that in no distant
time it will be possible to pay comfortable and safe
visits, within travelling times possible for human
beings, not only to our nearby moon but also to the
neighboring planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars —
perhaps even to Saturn with its rings, perhaps to
distant Neptune itself.”

As Korf clpsed his remarks with a brief bow,
there was a moment of oppressive stillness in the
hall. Then it was like the coming of a storm. The
floor shook beneath the stamping of the college
boys, a mad clapping of hands expressed thanks to
the great inventor, there were shouts of "Hurrah
for Korf !” and the entire crowd pushed toward the
platform to carry Korf from the hall on their
shoulders.

Then the Swabian arose with flashing eyes, com-
manding silence by a wave of his hand. His clear
voice rang out through the hall :

“Women and men of Germany, I thank you for
your enthusiasm ! Yet demonstrate it not by words
but by deeds ! All help out, so that the space ship
may not remain a mere project. Help out, so that
it may be a secure possession of our sorely tried
country !

“I have sacrificed my property to it. I am stand-
ing here a beggar! Now it is your turn!”

Silence prevailed as Korf left the hall. Yet in
hundreds of eyes he saw understanding shine forth
ready for action; understanding, which gave him
new courage to continue working without hesita-
tion on his great task.

CHAPTER IX
Finkle Investigates

D R. FINKLE, meanwhile, had not passed the
time idly. He had remained several days
longer in Budapest and had made some dis-
coveries about the Mertens couple.

It became more and more mysterious to him how
Korf had been attracted to this woman and had
been able to think her a serious scientist. Even if
the hateful remarks of the Berlin porter were per-
haps exaggerated, there was no question that Mrs.
Mertens, now successfully appearing as premiere
danseuse and leading a very gay life, had no inter-
est for anything but clothes, new dances, costly
dinners, and numerous cavaliers. Gus must have
been smitten blind when he took this society crea-
ture as an assistant.

From German papers, which Sam purchased, he
learned of the commencement of the drive for funds
for Korf. He also found a full text of the Munich
lecture. With great interest he followed the daily
reports about the course of the rocket, now circling
about the moon.

“Will it return? Is it held fast by the moon?
Is the occupant still alive? Will it be wrecked on
the return trip ?” These were questions appearing
day after day in the press and dealt with more or

Korf gave full gas to the main exhaust. The thunder of the explosions increased, be-
coming a roaring and crackling. The acceleration indicator crept up the scale and

wavered at the point twenty.

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

33

less logically. The outcome of the “shot into in-
finity” was still uncertain when Sam left the merry
lighthearted city on the Danube to pursue his plans
further in Bucharest. He had not yet sent any news
to Korf.

Finkle chose the roundabout route via Hermann-
stadt, in order to look around a bit in the Oltu Val-
ley, before honoring Mr. Vacarescu by a visit.

In Calimanesti he left the slow train which thrice
daily snorted its way through the narrow valley
from Hermannstadt to Slatina at not more than a
snail’s pace. Vainly he looked about for a carriage.
There was nothing to be done but go on foot
the several hours’ journey by way of Berislavesti
to Suicii. He took his time and had much enjoy-
ment in' the gloomily majestic landscape, in which
there were no little hills and slopes, the darkly
wooded Carpathians rising steeply from the valley
and mounting up to heaven.

In Suicii he derived considerable benefit from his
slender knowledge of Roumanian. Cautiously he
questioned the dirty mountaineers, wrapped in
sheepskins in spite of the heat, like that of a belated
summer. They had not yet recovered from the
terror caused by the thundering rocket. With evi-
dent horror they told in a mixture of Roumanian
and Hungarian about the devil’s work on the pla-
teau. The earth had been torn up, a hellish glow
had flooded the mountains, and everyone had
thought it the end of the world.

“You know, master,” an old ragged cowherd
whispered to Sam, “things weren’t right up there.
The devil himself was taking a hand. Just think,
when the devilish noise was over, the heavens were
covered with thick clouds, for weeks there was
grey mist in the valley, and ...”

“That’s nothing remarkable !” laughed Sam.

“Don’t jest, master ! The mist was nowhere from
Cainenii to Slatina, only here in the neighborhood
of the bewitched plateau. And it wasn’t any ordi-
nary mist. It was made of dense heavy gases, hot
as beef stew — and ...” he brought his mouth close
to Sam’s ear and whispered, “it smelled like pitch
and sulphur!”

Sam remembered that Korf had once told him
the energy cartridges were filled with powder, which
on exploding evolved an extremely evil smelling
gas. It was right; he had at the same time men-
tioned that the rocket on starting left behind a
stream of such superheated combustion gases that
it was advisable to start the machine in some place
not densely populated.

“Can one see the works at the Valeni monastery?”
he asked.

The old man crossed himself. “For the sake of
your soul’s salvation, master, do not go there 1 No
Christian now enters the valley of Valeni, where
at night the poor souls have to work for the devil.”

In spite of this insistent warning, Sam walked
to the monastery along the road which had been
softened and cut up by heavy trucks. The villas
on the side of the mountain seemed abandoned.
The cable line hung motionless and unused across

the valley. In the monastery yard a few people
were busy piling up great steel containers. Unchal-
lenged, Sam passed through the gate and watched
the workers a while. As though in sport he picked
up one of the empty steel cases which lay about,
looking somewhat like shrapnel cases and contain-
ing about a liter.*

“Can I see Mr. Suchinow?” he suddenly asked.
In surprise the workmen, who had hitherto turned
their backs to Sam, turned around and stared in
wonder at the intruder. Since he received no an-
swer, he repeated his question in French, likewise
getting no response. “Suchinow?” he then said
slowly, stressing each syllable: “Su-chi-now ?” He
also made a questioning gesture.

“Suchinow ?” repeated one of the workmen. “Su-
chinow Bucharest 1” And he pointed to the south.

Without concerning themselves further about the
visitor, they again returned to their work.

Sam climbed up to the plateau.

Tall massive concrete pillars rose in the air, en-
closing a deep circular excavation in the earth,
which was half full of mud. Clumps of earth lay
scattered all around for a great distance, as though
an immense bomb had burst in the space surround-
ed by the pillars.

Utterly exhausted, Sam reached Calimanesti that
evening. Fortifying himself w r ith some corn bread
and plum brandy, provided him by the station mas-
ter, since there was no restaurant, he continued his
journey on the night train.

In Bucharest he had a real sleep before continuing
his investigation, which now was chiefly concerned
with the financial basis of the Transcosmos Stock
Company. It did not prove difficult, by way of cau-
tious questions at the leading banks, to find out
that Vacarescu had in his own hands about sixty-
percent of the entire capital stock, the remaining
forty percent having been taken over in equal
amounts by two Bucharest financial interests, the
Transsylvania Company, and the Bank of Rouma-
nia. Since Vacarescu first of all had reckoned in
his expenditures in building the rocket and from the
remaining actual funds had provided the insurance
sum for Skoryna, the shares were evidently worth
at most sixteen percent, in case the rocket should
come to grief and Skoryna be killed.

“A risky business 1” remarked Finkle to the head
clerk of the bank, who gave him this information.

“Yes, the stockholders risk a great deal 1” the lat-
ter agreed. “Doubtless many would rather sell be-
low par to-day than tomorrow. Still, if the venture
succeeds, then the stock will rise.”

“Well 1” said Uncle Sam. “How would it be if the
Transcosmos Company encountered competition
which would settle its fate, even if there were the
most successful outcome for the rocket enterprise?”

With these words he passed through the window
the newspapers with information about Korf’s pro-
ject.

“The construction of Korf’s space ship has com-

*(1,000 cubic centimeters)

34

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

menced. Don’t you think that it can at least be very •
injurious to Vacarescu’s undertaking?” Sam added,
while the banker scanned the news with increasing
interest.

“Thank you very much, sir, for your hint. May
I make further use of it?”

“You are very welcome. You will be able to get
further information in any German or Austrian
paper. The papers here seem to be showing extra-
orinary reticence regarding this coming event.”

Confronting The Financier

F INKLE was also able to secure access to the
managing office of the Transsylvania Company.
He freely admitted that he was connected with Korf
and wished to get information regarding the basis,
plans, and further intentions of the Transcosmos
Company. He firmly denied the suggestion that
there might be some interests in common.

Thus he slowly but surely undermined the value
of the T ranscosmos stock, and the confidence of the
shareholders was again destroyed. The reports
from the observatories did the rest. It seemed more
and more certain that the rocket was permanently
circling about the moon. Whether this was inten-
tional or forced was a question which all the ob-
servers considered but which none dared to answer.

When Sam thought the preparations sufficient, he
went one day to the little palace on the Dimbowita,
Vacarescu's home in the northwest quarter, where
the villas of the rich of Bucharest are to be found.
He was received with a polite but unmistakable
shrug of the shoulders. Mr. Vacarescu was not at
home. Twice more he tried it, after which he lost
patience.

“Mr. Vacarescu is accustomed to be at home at
this hour!” he said to the liveried servant. “An-
nounce me again and say that it is a question of
something extremely important for your master,
something allowing no delay. Give him this card.”
He then drew out a new visiting card and wrote
a few words on it in pencil. After a short time the
servant reappeared.

“He will receive you tomorrow noon in the office
of the Transcosmos Company!”

“Fine!” grumbled Sam. “One day shall not stand
in the way.”

The following noon Sam was promptly in the
Calei Victoria and was at once admitted.

Vacarescu was sitting at the desk in Suchinow’s
private office. He was alone. Sam was much
pleased to be able to converse alone with the noted
financier. At first no notice was taken of his enter-
ing.

“What do you want?” Vacarescu asked after a
while, without turning around.

“First of all, a seat !” answered Sam angrily. He
was always roused by impoliteness.

Vacarescu slowly looked up from the desk, his
thin nose trembling strangely. With boundless
amazement he gazed at the man who dared con-
front the oil magnate Romano Vacarescu in such
a way.

“You speak boldly, sir!” he said with a drawl,
making however a gesture toward the sofa.

“I am accustomed to politeness !” said Sam calm-
ly, sitting down.

“Who are you and what gives me the pleasure of
your visit? Please make it brief. I do not like ver-
bosity.”

“My name is on my card. I invite you to open
an unconditional account for a German inventor.”
Vacarescu’s lids lowered, and be reached for the
bell.

“Sir,” said Sam quickly, “you can have me thrown
out. But I assure you, very soon you will be ask-
ing me to visit you, and I likewise assure you that
I shall not return a second time.”

The fat fingers with the many rings slowly with-
drew from the bell.

“Well, then, what do you want?”

“A loan, as I already told you.”

“And the security?”

“The word of an honorable man.”

“Won’t you express yourself more concretely?
You are beginning to weary me. For whom do you
desire the loan — for yourself, maybe ?”

"For my brother-in-law, August Korf.”

Vacarescu looked up quickly, interested.

“For the Swabian inventor?”

“ of the space ship,” added Sam by way of

supplement.

“I am amazed at your strange request. Do you
know that you are speaking to the founder and chief
stockholder of the Transcosmos Space Ship Com-
pany?”

“. . . who is risking a fortune in it, and whose
only mistaken speculation, perhaps, is the Trans-
cosmos Company.”

“You seem very daring, sir. If you seriously
wish to suggest that I again take part in such an
undertaking, please do not waste your time any
longer.”

“You are mistaken. There is no question of your
taking part. I want merely a loan, an unconditional
loan due only at the end of five years. We can come
to an agreement regarding the interest.”

“Is this why you came from Friedrichshafen to
Bucharest?” Vacarescu seemed amused.

“Certainly !”

“You might have saved yourself the expense.”
“We shall see. First let me give you some ad-
vice. It would be advantageous for you to buy up
the forty percent of the Transcosmos stock which
is in other hands.”

“I suppose you know from some reliable source,”
said the fat man scornfully, “that the flight of the
rocket will result absolutely satisfactorily, isn’t that
so?”

“On the contrary, I am absolutely convinced that
the ‘shot into infinity’ is dying away without effect,”
said Finkle, while the twitching at the corners of his
mouth showed his meaning still more.

“Stop!” he added, noticing that Vacarescu was
again reaching for the bell. “My mind is perfectly
clear, and I know exactly what I am saying.”

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

35

For or Against Korf ?

T HE Roumanian drummed nervously on the
table. "You are putting my patience to a hard
test. If I still listen at all, it is only because I am
really eager to know how you intend to make this
tissue of absurdity at all plausible.”

“Patience brings its reward, says an old German
proverb, the accuracy of which you will at once per-
ceive.”

“Speak to the point, if I may ask !”

“All right ! If the rocket comes to grief and the
insurance sum for Skoryna has to be paid, the assets
of the Transcosmos Company will be so reduced
that the shares can be valued at not more than six-
teen percent.”

“You have exact informatibn !”

“As you observe! In this case you lose about
eighty-four percent of your investment.”

Sam would not be turned aside.

“Surely! For to-day you can get the shares of
the other investors for not more than seventy per-
cent of par; if you proceed carefully, they will be
cheaper! Thereby the average cost of your total
investment would be reduced from one hundred per-
cent to about eighty-eight.”

“Correct! What then?”

“Now, assuming that the rocket is still safe and
Skoryna alive, you can so manage by liquidation
of the company that you lose nothing.”

“But man!” cried Vacarescu impatiently. “In
that case I have no idea of liquidating!”

“Under certain circumstances you will have to
have this idea, Mr. Vacarescu ! But let us leave that
for a moment. I repeat: if Skoryna is alive and
you follow my advice, you will not lose a penny.
Now, you are doubtless aware of the course of the
rocket to date. In all probability it will keep on
circling about the moon until — please excuse me if
I light my pipe — it makes talking so much better — ”
“Until it . . .?” insisted Vacarescu.

“Until it is reached by Korf, and Skoryna is res-
cued, and thereby the payment of the insurance is
avoided.”

Vacarescu was silent for a long time, while Sam
comfortably blew thick clouds of smoke into the
air.

“Then I am to risk further outlays to save my
previous investment — you really mean that ?

“You have understood me perfectly. Besides,
there might not be any excessive risk in it. Listen !”
Sam unfolded a few newspaper pages and trans-
lated to the attentive financier the reports of Korf’s
lecture at the technical college in Munich.

“Don’t you think,” he added, “that work is being
prepared here to which your company must sur-
render?”

“Man, don’t you consider,” cried Vacarescu in
excitement, “that you are asking me to finance my
most dangerous rival — assuming that all this is
correct — and to finance him unconditionally ?”

“Mr. Vacarescu!” said Sam, rising. “Consider
well whether you are willing or unwilling to seize

this solitary chance to save Skoryna and to with-
draw without loss from your enterprise. In brief,
this is the question: with or against Korf! Since
I may doubtless assume that you will wish to dis-
cuss this decision with General Director Suchinow,
as I strongly recommend, please give Mr. Suchinow
this package. He will surely give you the right
advice. I shall wait until tomorrow evening for
news of your decision as to the main point. The
further details are entirely subordinate.”

“Good-bye, sir.”

Sam departed, and when the outside door had
closed behind him, he laughed so loudly that the
passers turned around to look at him.

The package contained the empty energy cart-
ridge and the Budapest photograph of Suchinow,
on the back of which Sam had written these four
words :

“For or against Korf?”

CHAPTER X
The Call from the Skies

M R. NIELSON, the aged observer of the Lick
Observatory, had pointed the telescope ex-
clusively for studying the rocket. Night
after night he sat at the eye-piece and did not let
the space ship escape his vision.

The conflicting emotions which stirred within the
old investigator had brought him into a strange
state of mind. However perfectly he could follow
with his own eyes the rocket at night, however ex-
actly he calculated its path on the basis of the con-
struction figures which Suchinow had now pub-
lished, he nevertheless simply could not believe that
man could safely dare to leave his place on earth,
appointed to him at creation, and force his way into
the secrets of infinity. Though he convinced him-
self every night that the rocket was pursuing its
course without deviation, it had become absolute
certainty to him that the bold man who was circling
about the moon up there in space, separated from
his fellow beings, out of reach of any communica-
tion, must be dead.

On the fourth day after the start, the tiny dot of
light appeared at the distance of a few diameters of
the moon northwest of the now fully illuminated
disk. Then it seemed to approach nearer and nearer
to the moon, touching the disk, and then disappear-
ing. Some ninety minutes later it appeared again
at the southeast edge, made a very narrow loop,
and again entered the disk at the southern end.
The rocket had gone around the moon and was now
passing in front of the disk.

Since this procedure was repeated at equal inter-
vals, the assumption was that the rocket was circl-
ing about the moon in a regular gravitational path.
Exact measurements gave an orbital time of three
hours and six minutes, with a distance of two thou-
sand five hundred kilometers from the centre of the
moon. The moon therefore had acquired a tiny
satellite of its own in the shape of the rocket which

96

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

was travelling just eight hundred kilometers above
its surface.

Not the slightest irregularity in the motion indi-
cated that human hands were involved and that the
rocket was travelling its cosmic path as a space ship
capable of being steered ; rather than helplessly like
a meteor or one of the tiny asteroids.

Weeks passed. The orbit of the rocket remained
unchanged, and Nielson thought it impossible that
a heart should be beating and a brain thinking up
there in that tiny fragment of the earth. He was
therefore all the more startled by a new and unex-
pected observation.

In the fifth week after the start, when the moon:
had again become full, the shadow of the earth came
so close to the moon that the rocket, though not the
moon itself, entered the shadow and disappeared.

Mr. Nielson was just going to leave the observa-
tion place, since the rocket would be invisible for
some time, when he saw — was he mistaken or was
it reality? — a weak, scarcely perceptible glimmer, a
dot with a red glow. In truth, the rocket was illu-
minated without sunlight.

In excitement Nielson adjusted the telescope to
the greatest enlargement. There could be no doubt!
The space ship was artificially lighted from within.

The light went out, shone again, flickered, and
again went out.

“Good Heavens ! The man is still alive, still alive,
all alone out there in the void !”

The assistant rushed up.

“Do you see the gleam of light?” asked Nielson,
as the other scanned the heavens. He had grown
pale and was trembling with excitement.

“Yes, sir, but the light is not steady. It is con-
stantly switched on and off. What is that? Short —
short — long — short — long? Mr. Nielson, it is — it is
the Morse code. It’s a message from space. Here
it is again: short — short — long — short — long! Sir,
it is the international Morse call-signal.”

He actually shouted it.

Nielson clutched his breast, as though he would
quiet his wild heartbeats.

“Write, sir — for Heaven’s sake be quick — perhaps
this is the only observatory which will get the call
from the skies. Let me look, sir ; my eyes are young-
er than yours! Again the call-signal. Now comes
a word! Are you ready to write, sir? Short short
short — long long long — short short short ...”

Hastily the old scientist noted the dots and dash-
es with trembling fingers. Then the assistant sank
back, deathly pale, horrified.

“What is it?” cried Nielson.

Feebly the assistant stammered: “S-O-S!”

“Great Heavens! The international call for help!
Ship in distress!”

S-O-S, S-O-S, S-O-S cried the flashes of light
from space, from an infinite and unattainable dis-
tance.

For a quarter bf an hour the call was repeated.
Then the dot of light by the moon went out. The

rocket emerged from the shadow of the earth and
once more shone in the reflected sunlight.

Silent and shocked, the two men looked at the
paper, at the momentous dots and dashes. They
had heard a message from space the cry of a human
being in an agony of despair.

Send help — help!

Who was to help him out there in the void?

In a few moments the radio transmitter was busy.
Skoryna’s cry went around the earth and roused
the better feelings of mankind.

CHAPTER XI
Near Despair

T HE construction work at Lake Constance
went on only slowly. First the Victoria Air-
port had secured an unoccupied piece of land
beside the lake and had started the preparing of
the ground.

A slope rising from the shore offered a good nat-
ural foundation for the starting track. Massive
girders were erected in the depressions, the irregu-
larities of the ridges were leveled off, and the nat-
ural and artificial supports so obtained were joined
by great iron rails.

Thus resulted an absolutely straight runway,
twelve meters wide and almost two kilometers long.
It ran horizontally for a few hundred meters from
the future starting point, then gradually rose, end-
ing like a spring-board at the highest point of the
slope, the gradient being thirty percent.

Daily Korf inspected the work for hours, making
tests of the solidity of the foundation and investi-
gating the quality of the concrete in his laboratory.

Then the construction had to wait a while, until
enough funds had again come in to procure mate-
rials and pay the workmen. There was constant
worry, until the day came which was to rid Korf
of his cares.

It was already well along in October.

The mist came up from the lake, settling heavily
on the fields, dulling the bright colors of the autumn
woods, and veiling the sun from sight. The two
greys of lake and air blended to make a sea of cold
moisture. The steamers, seeming of an uncanny
size, only loomed up out of the mist when right at
the shore; they took on board the few passengers
waiting and freezing on the slippery pier, and then
disappeared again in the mist in a few minutes.

With the departing swallows there had also gone
the last summer guests who sought to refresh them-
selves at Lake Constance. Silence lay over the little
city, which was preparing to dream away the win-
ter. In the wide-tiled stoves of the Swabian living
rooms, baked apples and chestnuts were already
cooking, the odor of which is a part of the real
autumn evening. The last bit of warm weather
came again, and the mist timidly crept away before
the victorious sunbeams. The sky was a clear blue
arch above the lake and the mountains, and the
white sails once more sped over the water, taking

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

37

final farewell of the light and warmth of summer.

It was on such a clear and splendid autumn morn-
ing when the startling news of Skoryna’s message
came to the world.

Pensively Korf looked out into the distance.
There could now be no more delay. The solitary
man up there was clinging with his last power to a
straw: send help!

But who was to help him? Must he not despair
of the possibility of rescue?

A mad impatience seized Korf. It was only be-
cause of money, base wretched money, that he stood
helpless before his half-completed construction.
And up there in space a tortured, agonized human
being was calling for him — for him ! He alone
could help ! The ship would have been finished long
ago, if these eternal financial difficulties had not
put everything off.

The burning of his laboratory came to his mind.
It was strange : chance, a trifling spark which pro-
duced the explosion, this had set him back many
months in his work — and now the despairing wretch
out in the limitless distance must suffer for it.

If only he could send him a message ! If he could
only flash to the moon this one sentence : Hold out !
Was there absolutely no possibility of giving the
rocket at least an indication that the message had
been received on earth?

Korf felt responsible for the unfortunate person.
One reproach gnawed at his conscience. Had it
been right to refuse the foreign money, several
times offered him, out of vain national pride?
Did his ship really have to be merely German work
throughout? Are not all nations alike before eter-
nal infinity ?

But there was no time now for reflection. Action
was necessary : the construction had to be hastened
as much as possible and completed, before the pris-
oner should despair of rescue and lose his mind.

Korf looked at the clock.

If he hurried, he could still catch the Munich
express. He had to see the representative of the
central government, then by chance visiting the
Bavarian government, to impress on him the ne-
cessity of getting more money as quickly as pos-
sible. He hurried to his home to change his clothes.
On the desk was a telegram which he heedlessly
put in his pocket. It might perhaps delay him, and
time was now all important.

On the train Korf became calmer. The com-
forting influence of speedy travel did not fail to
have its effect on him. He carefully considered
what he had to say to the official. They would have
to listen to him and provide him with funds. A
refusal would now be equivalent to murder.

At noon Korf arrived in Munich. Since he could
not count on finding the official in his office before
two o’clock, there was nothing to do but wait.

He was just walking toward the centre of the
city and considering whether he should not have
lunch in the meanwhile, when someone behind him
called out:

“Hello! Hello!”

Korf stopped. An excited little man came run-
ning along breathlessly, his overcoat flapping be-
hind him, a pipe in his hand, and pipestems sticking
out of his pockets.

“Truly, it is Uncle Sam himself, in the best of
health !” cried Korf joyfully, hurrying to meet him.

“Young fellow, you don’t seem to recognize your
old uncle any more !” exclaimed the latter, shaking
his brother-in-law’s hand violently enough to dislo-
cate his wrist. “Just the same, it’s fine that you
came to meet me.”

“Came to meet you? I did not have a ghost of
an idea that you were in Munich.”

“Why, didn’t you get my telegram ?”

An idea came to Korf. He fished from his over-
coat pocket the telegram, which he had entirely
forgotten.

“I received it all right, uncle,” he said in embar-
rassment, “but I haven’t read it yet. I shall at once
do so.”

“That is not necessary now, Gus,” laughed Sam.
“We do not need to communicate in writing at
present.”

“But how in the world do you happen to be right
here, Uncle Sam, and why didn’t you write for
weeks ?”

“You will learn everything. We just arrived at
the Oberwiesen Airport in a Junker plane. That is
far better than travelling in the torture chambers
of a train.”

“We? Aren’t you alone?”

“I am bringing along a man who will provide you
with half a million for your work. That made you
open your eyes! Didn’t I tell you that old Sam
had many acquaintances and would look about a
little for you ?”

Korf looked seriously at his brother-in-law.
“You cannot possibly know how important your in-
formation is for me today, uncle! How did you
manage it?”

“Gus, I will confess that I am terribly hungry.
Isn’t it best to do our talking in the Franziskaner
cafe ?”

“And your companion ?”

“The two gentlemen went to the Excelsior. To-
morrow you shall see them in Friedrichshafen.
Come on, Gus, forward march ! I shall be immense-
ly pleased to have a glass of extra dark and some
leberwurst. If you care at all for your uncle, ask no
more questions but hurry !”

Korf Parts with the Past

W ITH some difficulty they found seats in the
great hall of the Franziskaner. Sam would
not answer any questions. He was interested only
in the menu and seemed to be in the best of humor.

“Tokay in a cafe by the Danube in Budapest —
soda at Riegeler’s in Bucharest — March beer at the
Franziskaner in Munich — what more could the
heart desire?” he cried, when the foaming glasses
were placed on the table.

“You went so far for the money?”

“In case of need, I should have gone clear to the

38

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

Ganges !” said Sam, setting to work on his sausages.

When he had averted the worst danger of death
by starvation, he finally consented to give a con-
nected story. He gave the fullest account of his
investigations into the affairs of the Transcosmos
Company and of his interview with Vacarescu, but
he kept silent regarding the criminal investigations
of his trip.

Korf listened with growing amazement.

“And the Transcosmos Company now wants to
finance me?”

“Certainly 1 Vacarescu intends to open
for you an account of twenty-five thou-
sand English pounds, as soon, as he
has convinced himself of the practica-
bility of your project. For this pur-
pose he wishes to examine your model
tomorrow and he is bringing as an ex-
pert his technical director, this noted
engineer Suchinow. Are you afraid of
imperilling your secret by this ?”

“No, not at all ! But I should not like

/ /

V

/

K

/ '/

v/'

/'

/J /

'//

i

h

r

/ IMW///'' to have any foreign company

get claims on my invention.”
Sam grinned contentedly.
“Claims? Who says any-
thing about claims? Vacar-
escu is giving you a building
loan with fixed interest, a sort
of mortgage on your first ship.
That finishes the rights of the
Transcosmos Company. Af-
ter your first flight you will
form some company or other,
which will then take over and amortise your debts.
This mortgage cannot be foreclosed for five years.
Up to this time the Roumanian cannot put in a word.
And by then your company must have got so far ahead
that it can satisfy Vacarescu. Don’t you think so?”
“But tell me. Uncle Sam, why does Vacarescu
help a rival like me to get started? He must have
some interest in the matter !”

“Certainly ! He imposes two conditions, to which
you can presumably agree. One condition is that
you pledge yourself to devote your first trip exclu-
sively to the saving of the rocket.”

“In any case I shall do that, as quickly as pos-
sible! Do you know the latest news?”

“I know a lot of news, but whether the very
latest is included. . .

W/

/ ''

L

ill

m.

/•

The speedometer indicated six thousand meters a second. For the second time the ship
divided. The pure hydrogen rocket flamed forth and spit its glowing vapors backward

at an incredible speed.

HE SHOT INTO INFINITY

39

“The rocket has sent light-signals to the earth,
calling for help !” In a few words he told of Skory-
na's message.

“Splendid!” answered Sam. “Now things are
going right ! Then Skoryna is still alive !”

“And Vacarescu’s second condition?"

Sam became embarrassed and tried to evade the
issue.

“It is only a trifle, though rather remarkable: you
are simply to forget somethihg, acting as though
it had never had anything to do with your life,
saying nothing more about it, and preserving abso-
lute silence .on the subject 1”

“What is this ‘it’?”

“Less an ‘it’ than a ‘she’ ; well, I mean Natalka.”

In surprise Korf remained silent, while Sam un-
easily moved back and forth on his chair and took
another drink of beer.

“Uncle Sam, you know more than you have told
me !” said Korf in a mildly reproachful tone.

Sam blew his nose, to gain time to think. “See
here, Gus, this Natalka is certainly worth no more
of your thoughts than this: putting her in a box,
closing the cover carefully, locking it, and then los-
ing the key. At present she is appearing at the
Orpheum in Budapest, dancing through life with
her cavaliers — and August Korf is as indifferent to
her as — as you are not indifferent to me, Gus.”

“Are you certain about all this? You are tortur-
ing me, uncle; does it have to be so?”

Sam took out of his pocket the package contain-
ing Natalka’s letters.

“See here ! She wrote a supply of these letters a
long time ago and deposited them in Berlin, in order
not to have to think of you any more and to lull
you to sleep slowly. There you have them all at
once. Just throw them in the stove.”

He ordered another glass of beer and silently
watched as Korf tore up Natalka’s letters, one after
another, and burned them in the ash tray.

“So be it!” Korf suppressed his emotion. “Out
there in empty space, at a tremendous distance, a
human being is struggling for life in the most hor-
rible position to which a living being has ever been
exposed. I can bring aid, I alone! There must be
no hesitation. I will try to kill my feeling for Na-
talka, in order to save Skoryna.”

“You are a good man, Gus!” said Sam, much
pleased. Then, thinking he had one more thing
to do, he added, “I also brought you something else.
It is Natalka’s latest picture, as a reminder of your
great folly.”

He handed Korf the Budapest photograph, show-
ing Mrs. Mertens sitting on the sofa. Korf quickly
took the picture, examined it carefully, and then
handed it back to Sam with a trace of disappoint-
ment.

“There certainly is a striking resemblance, but
this woman is not Natalka.”

CHAPTER XII

The Mountain Approaches Mahomet

K ORF returned alone to Friedrichshafen. Sam
wished to conduct his foreign guests to Lake
Constance and therefore spent the night in
Munich.

Monotonously the express thundered through the
night. Korf had settled down in a corner of an
empty section and was balancing up the events of
the day. He was in a position to be satisfied. Even
at the official’s the necessity of quick action had
been seen, and speedy provision of money was in
sight. Probably there would also be more money
coming in from the public drive for funds. This
startling drama in space and this appeal from the
skies must certainly rouse the feelings of mankind.

Korf opened the window and let the cool night
breeze blow on his brow. “Hold out, lonely one up
there!” he murmured. “Hold out and do not de-
spair! I am coming!”

Then he thought thankfully of good old Sam. The
withered bony man had accomplished something
which Korf would never have believed possible for
him. Yet Sam’s story left him in the dark on sev-
eral points. Where did he get Natalka’s letters, and
what was the meaning of the picture, which Sam
had believed to represent Natalka? After the point-
ing out of this error Sam had remained in impene-
trable silence. There was nothing more to be got
from him. Who was Natalka, and what had she
to do with Vacarescu, who joined so strange a con-
dition with his loan? Would the veil which lay over
Natalka ever be lifted, now that Korf had promised
to preserve absolute silence on the subject and let
her sink into forgetfulness?

Certainly he would keep his word to say nothing
more about Natalka and to make no investigation
about her; but he would never forget the brave
heroine, all the more since Sam’s suggestions had
awakened his recollection and excited his interest
by the mystery which surrounded her.

Involuntarily he thought of the story of the treas-
ure digger who was forbidden to think of a rhino-
ceros while digging. In his whole life he had never
been concerned with a rhinoceros, but now he could
not get the subject out of his mind, and the treasure
remained undiscovered.

With all his might Korf resisted the tendency to
meditate thus. It was time for action, the world
was waiting for his work. He could not squander
his energy in futile scheming.

The following morning an automobile drew up
before his laboratory, and three gentlemen got out.
Sam introduced Korf to the foreigners. For a mo-
ment the two rivals, Korf and Suchinow, looked
fixedly at each other; then Suchinow lowered his
eyes. Even if the Russian had erred in his conduct,
this penitential journey was atonement enough. It
did not escape Sam that the Russian purposely had
in one hand a brief case and in the other a small
box, an unobtrusive way of avoiding shaking
hands.

40

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

Since Vacarescu did not understand German and
Suchinow remained silent, there was an uncomfort-
able silence in the great whitewashed room into
which Korf led his guests.

The laboratory disappointed the visitors in its
bareness. On the walls were maps and diagrams,
and at the window stood an immense table covered
with drawings. Except for the numerous electric
wires coming together at a marble switchboard and
a small table covered with a confusion of retorts,
tubes, coils, and wires, there was nothing to indi-
cate the development here of a technical marvel, a
truly ingenious invention.

“I cannot show you much here,” said Korf, break-
ing the stillness. “You know that lack of money
has hindered construction. Still I think you can
get a good survey of the project from the plans and
calculations.”

Then he explained, so far as seemed necessary,
the gasification and combustion of the liquid fuel.
He demonstrated the recoil effect by a small model
motor.

Suchinow translated the separate sentences for
Vacarescu and asked questions in the German
heard in Poland and Russia, which seemed rather
Jewish to a Swabian ear. These questions indi-
cated quick comprehension and thorough technical
knowledge. Sam meanwhile, taking no part and
seeming rather superfluous here, stood in the corner
and smoked. He had already done his part.

“Now that you appear to have succeeded in over-
coming the technical difficulties involving the use
of liquid fuel,” said Suchinow, “hydrogen gas cer-
tainly seems to be the most favorable fuel for the
space ship.”

“You are quite right!” agreed Korf. “But not
for the start. You must not forget that only a
moderate initial acceleration is possible, in view of
the lives of the crew. It would be wasteful to use
hydrogen energy to produce the slight starting
speed. For that a substance with a greater specific
gravity, which increases the load, is even more effi-
cient, because it hastens the penetration of the
dense lower layers of air. It is only advisable to let
the hydrogen rocket begin to function when its
energy really comes to its highest efficiency, that is
to say, in the high thin layers and at a greater speed.

“By using suitably mixed fuels, suited to the
various speeds, the efficiency of the machine is im-
mensely increased.”

“Then how are you going to start the rocket?”

Korf looked sharply at Suchinow. “Until very
recently I thought my dynamic cartridge the best
solution of the starting problem."

The Russian bit his lips so hard that a drop of
blood appeared. His voice was hoarser as he asked,
summoning up all his self-control :

“And now?”

“Now I am not disposed to use solid explosives
in any form. I have decided to use alcohol to run
the lowest auxiliary rocket.”

“Auxiliary rocket?”

“Yes. The space ship when ready to start will

consist of three separate rockets joined together.
The lowest rocket, using pure alcohol, operates the
whole system from the start to the speed of about
two thousand meters a second. As soon as it is
burned out, it is uncoupled and cast off. Then the
second auxiliary rocket begins to act, increasing
the speed still more by its mixture of alcohol and
hydrogen; after its tanks are empty, it is likewise
cast off. There finally remains the pure hydrogen
rocket, in which of course are the passengers, the
instruments, and the means for controlling the ship.
Thus only a small part of the machine which starts,
the egg-shaped point, in fact, will make the flight
into infinity as the actual space ship. On return
to the earth it will have not more than a sixtieth
part of the original total weight. In this way for
every kilogram of essential weight there is so great
a quantity of fuel and consequently of energy units
that the safe passage of the limit of the earth’s at-
traction is beyond question.”

The Space Suit

W HILE Suchinow was explaining this to the
financier, Sam came over to Korf.

“There is one thing I do not yet understand, Gus.
How in the world can a person live in a space ship,
in which he has none of the prerequisites for exis-
tence, air, pressure, heat, and even weight?”
“Those are the smallest difficulties, Uncle Sam !
I simply take along a bit of the earth — with every-
thing that pertains to life, including, of course, to-
bacco. You should rather ask how the exact inves-
tigation of the moon is to be managed !”

“What !” Suchinow took a hand in the conversa-
tion. “You intend to land on the moon?”

“Not on the first trip ; that concerns only Skoryna.
I intend to on my second expedition. Naturally
the crew must be able to leave the space ship.”

“On the airless moon?”

“Not only on the moon but also during the trip
though space, sir 1”

“Isn’t that a mere fancy?” said the Russian skep-
tically. He regarded the scheme as madness.

Korf opened the doors of a chamber built in the
wall, entirely finished in rubber and provided with
an airtight door.

“Two things (aside from cold, which can be over-
come) seem to make a stay in space impossible for
human beings : the absence of pressure and the lack
of air. I am going to pump the air from this room,
which really amounts to nothing more than a lab-
oratory flask on a large scale, so that the interior
will be like airless and pressureless space.”

With great excitement the visitors watched Korf
take from a drawer a bundle, which he opened up.

“This is a suit made of rubberized leather, like
a diving suit, and absolutely airtight. By means of
a special air magazine so much air is constantly
produced in the suit that there is a constant pres-
sure of one atmosphere, regardless of the external
pressure.

“Perhaps one of you would be so kind as to put
on the suit. Unfortunately, I cannot be the subject

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

41

of the experiment, since I have to manage the ex-
hausts.”

Uncle Sam surveyed the costume and the helmet
which screwed on, but at once drew back when
Korf nodded encouragingly to him. He was glad
to leave it to the Russian to be the subject of the
test.

Suchinow silently slipped into the costume and
allowed Korf to screw on the helmet with the oxy-
gen containers. Then he placed himself in the cen-
tre of the chamber. In one of his leather-covered
hands Korf placed a burning candle. Then he closed!
the door, through the glass window of which all
the proceedings could be witnessed. They could
clearly hear an electric bell in the chamber, which
Korf switched on.

The pump began to work. The candle flickered
and went out. The bell seemed to sound fainter and
fainter, though the clapper kept on striking. Korf
shut off the pump.

“Now, except for weight and heat, the same con-
ditions prevail in this chamber as in space. Yet Mr.
Suchinow, with whom we cannot communicate at
present, certainly feels all right.”

Sam looked through the window and laughed
out loud. In fact, Suchinow presented a very comi-
cal appearance. The suit had swelled to its fullest
extent and had taken on a shape much like that of
the favorite rubber dolls of festival times.

The expansive round figure in the chamber was
walking back and forth, swinging its arms up and
down, jumping in the air, shadow-boxing a little,
and removing all doubt about its being in full pos-
session of its powers.

Korf opened a little valve. The air rushed into
the chamber, the bell sounded again, and the fan-
tastic figure resumed its normal appearance.

“I congratulate you!” said Suchinow, when he
had removed the suit. “It is very probably possible
to remain in airless space in this pneumatic suit.
But how do you propose to have a person move in
space, since he is subject to no force of attraction
and accordingly has no weight?”

“Certainly the absence of any pressure will at
first be confusing to the passengers. Still we can
get used to that. And after all it makes no differ-
ence whether the crew floats weightlessly about in-
side the ship or hovers like angels outside. There
is in any case no weight. There is also the point
that leaving my ship is absolutely essential in order
to save the rocket; besides that, I intend to spend
part, maybe even most, of the trip on the wings of
the ship.”

“Your ship has wings?” said Suchinow, passing
to another point. “Why wings, which are entirely
useless in space in the absence of a supporting
medium, and only represent needless weight?”

“To be sure, the wings have no significance for
the actual flight through space; they neither help
nor harm. But even at the start they are a wel-
come aid to carry the space ship like an airplane
above the lowest dense layers of air. Their most

important function, however, is in landing. The
ship on returning to earth enters the atmosphere at
a cosmic speed and must be braked. If that is man-
aged by simple recoil shots, landing would require
the same tremendous amount of energy as starting.
On the other hand, a space ship provided with
wings can support itself in the air just like an air-
plane — first of all in the thin uppermost layers. It
will enter almost parallel to the surface of the earth,
keep sinking into denser layers, and gradually ex-
haust its speed by air resistance in as long a braking
run as desired. Once its speed is reduced to two
hundred meters a second, it can manoeuver like an
airplane and come down in a gentle glide to any
desired point on earth, that is to say, the starting
place.”

Korfs Purpose

y ACARESCU had until now remained silent and
had limited himself to listening to Suchinow’s
brief translations. Suddenly he stepped up to Korf
and questioned him in French, a language which
Korf understood very well but could not speak
sufficiently fluently:

“Sir, what is the final purpose of your inven-
tion ?”

“The final purpose?” answered Korf with gleam-
ing eyes. “As my final purpose I intend to render
the inexhaustible heat energy of the sun serviceable
for mankind. Far out in space, at the limit of the
earth’s gravity, power stations shall arise, immense
solar reflectors, making possible the concentration
of gigantic amounts of energy at any desired spot
on earth. The vast stretches of frozen polar lands
can then be made fertile territory; fertile land-
scapes could be made barren wastes. Mankind
shall be made independent of the decreasing coal
supply of the earth, and any preparation for war
can be nipped in the bud. Wealth and happiness
shall come to the earth and let a joyful human race
develop in unity and freedom. That, sir, is the
final purpose of my invention !”

Old Sam did not trust his ears, when he heard
these words. Was there more in Korf than just
the cool and calculating technician?

“Gus !” said he, pressing his brother-in-law’s
hand. “Every day you furnish new surprises!”
“May I now invite you to follow me to the site
of construction?” said Korf, turning to Suchinow,
who was talking eagerly with Vacarescu.

On the landing place by the lake there was great
activity. From a distance they could hear the con-
crete mixers. Little tipcarts rolled up to the sep-
arate points of construction and poured their moist
contents into the forms. Most of the supports of
the runway were already prepared.

Suchinow seemed greatly surprised at the length
of the arrangement. But Korf reminded him with
a smile of the airplane wings.

“For the starting giant airship,” said he, “it is
necessary to provide a correspondingly long run-
way. My rocket does not rise vertically but goes

42

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

up obliquely like any airplane. One hundred
meters run, which is ample for an airplane, is nat-
urally insufficient for a space ship with the dimen-
sions of a Zeppelin.”

Above the lower part of the runway the iron
framework of the mighty space ship hangar was
already erected, similar to great Zeppelin sheds
but much wider, in view of the projecting wings.

As yet nothing was to be seen of the space ship
itself. The separate parts were being constructed
in various divisions of the Victoria works and in
great measure had not even been begun, because
of the lack of capital.

Suchinow asked another series of questions, part
of which Korf answered evasively or not at all,
when they concerned things which he thought he
should keep secret. Nevertheless Suchinow was
convinced that Korf’s space ship removed all doubt
as to the practicability of the plans made.

“Regarding business matters,” said Korf, as the
two foreigners were taking their leave, “I request
you to discuss things with my representative, whose
address you will find on this card. Dr. Kramer has
all necessary instructions and power to settle mat-
ters.”

With a cool ceremonial bow Vacarescu and
Suchinow entered the automobile and drove off
without turning around.

“Gus,” remarked Uncle Sam, when the car had
disappeared, “you are splendid! I simply wonder
that this green-dotted Russian did not burst with
anger. He must have seen that he can simply pack
up his little rocket, when you get started.”

“Do you think that this Vacarescu will really
give the money?” said Korf, slightly worried.

“Gus, just let old Sam look out for such details.
Do you think I have been travelling around for
weeks, to let the man escape in the last minute?
You just stay quietly at your construction work.
I am going right over to see Dr. Kramer, and I
shall keep my eyes on Mr. Vacarescu.”

PART II
CHAPTER XIII
Ready to Start

M ONTHS had passed. An unusually severe
but dry winter had favored the work at
Lake Constance. Even though Korf made
the unwelcome discovery, while the work was going
on, that he had considerably underestimated the
cost, sufficient means were now coming in through
subscriptions, which along with Vacarescu’s loan
eliminated all financial worries. The appeal from
the skies had had its effect. The state also was
now giving much assistance to the work by provid-
ing men who were out of employment, the state
funds taking care of their pay.

Korf was tirelessly active. Being temporarily
released from his position as chief engineer at the
Victoria Airport, he could devote all his time and
strength to the construction. It was due to his un-
tiring zeal and his arrangements on a grand scale

that the space ship was already close to comple-
tion by the end of January. Korf would not grant
himself any rest, as long as he knew that Skoryna
was in danger.

For almost five months the rocket had been cir-
cling about the moon, unchanged in its orbit. The
horrible fate of the pioneer of spatial navigation
kqpt the world excited.

Was he still alive? Asking this question was
equivalent to answering it in the negative. Yet
Korf did not give up hope.

No more light-signals from the rocket had been
seen, though every observatory in the world was
carefully examining the vicinity of the moon, when
ever the space ship entered the shadow of either
the earth or the moon. Accordingly Skoryna’s fate
was extremely uncertain, and the world waited im-
patiently for Korf’s rescue expedition.

Old Sam, who had for the time being suppressed
his wanderlust and rented furnished rooms near the
airport, where he hoped to revive again his former
medical practice, could not entirely hide his nega-
tive view regarding the question of spatial naviga-
tion. Nevertheless, he helped out, so far as he
Could, in speeding up the work and the preparations.
For him the work was no longer a debatable inci-
dent of technical progress ; it was the life work of
his brother-in-law. Besides that, the enterprise
had a noble humane purpose to fulfill, to which
philosophical debates regarding timeliness and
necessity had to yield.

When Korf began to collect the crew of the ship
and sent Sam an official invitation to make the trip
as ship’s doctor, the old cosmopolite had a hard
problem to solve. It was certainly not cowardice
which made him hesitate in his decision; it was
rather a drawing back before the grandiose im-
mensity of the enterprise, the hesitancy of a proud
and modest character at the threshold of promi-
nence.

Korf knew how to clear up his doubts.

“Uncle Sam,” said he one evening, when they
were sitting together before the stove in Finkle’s
abode, “do you remember that splendid summer -
evening on the lake, shortly after your return, when
you greeted the sunlit Zugspitze and were so hpapy
to see your old home again?”

“Certainly, the evening was too beautiful for me
to forget it ever.”

“Do you recall that you spoke of an insignificant
human being who rashly wishes to leave mother
earth and of a breath which can extinguish this
person out there in space?”

Korf had such a worried a look that Sam could
not help grinning.

“Another reason for me to remain quietly on
earth,” he replied, with a face which tried to be
serious. “Isn’t it enough for one of us to be lost?”

Korf looked up in surprise. For some time Sam
enjoyed his brother-in-law’s amazement and then
added :

“I understand all right, Gus. If you are putting

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

43

on such pressure, then — oh, well, for Heaven’s sake
build a little ice chest in your great palace and
don’t venture to nail up any placards with the en-
chanting wording: ‘No smoking’!”

“Then you are coming along, Uncle Sam?” cried
Korf joyfully, seizing his hand.

“What else can I do!” grumbled Sam, pulling his
hand away. Then he went over to Mother Bar-
bara’s for a glass of beer, to think over the new
state of affairs.

The last week before the start passed rapidly.
First of all, the crew had to be trained and tested
as to their suitability. Conditions were to be antic-
ipated on the coming trip subject to which no per-
son on earth had ever lived, the effect of which
upon an individual’s physical system no one could
foresee. Even if it might be assumed that the ab-
sence of gravity during the free flight in space
would produce no very disadvantageous results,
there was the danger of the excessively increased
pressure during the ascent. Since medical expe-
rience was not sufficient to express a certain judg-
ment regarding physical powers of resistance to
this unwonted phenomenon. Korf — to be absolutely
sure — constructed a testing apparatus like a merry-
go-round, on which the candidates were revolved at
high speed in a circular path. In this case centrif-
ugal force exerted a pressure on the occupants of
the merry-go-round, which could be increased at
will and observed in its effect on those being tested.

Thus Korf had selected a useful little group of
ten aeronautical workers, all persons whom he had
learned to know and to value as skillful and de-
pendable during his years of activity at the air-
port.

As second navigation officer he took a well tried
Zeppelin operator named Berger, who previously,
when the Z-R3 went to America, had for the first
time conducted the taking of bearings by radio and
had thereby won a name for himself. Berger gave
a regular jump of joy when he was informed of his
position on the space ship.

“Didn’t I always say,” he remarked radiantly to
Korf, who on principle was taking only unmarried
men, “marrying is a fine thing, if someone else is
doing it !”

“Here’s to true conradeship, Mr. Berger!” re-
plied Korf. He knew that he could rely on this
man.

The ascent was fixed for the third of February.

Days beforehand the starting place was contin-
ually surrounded by movie photographers, report-
ers, and curious persons, who occasionally sneaked
through the fence and tried to get a closer view of
the space ship. But the guards were on the watch
and escorted every intruder none too gently from
, the forbidden zone.

Korf could no longer keep away from interview-
ers of all nations, who managed to find him every-
where and at the most incredible hours, until Sam
offered to receive these people and to satisfy them
on Korf’s behalf. As a matter of fact, many news-

papers published the yarns which Sam dictated to
the journalists who wanted a sensation.

Final Inspection

T last the expected day arrived.

Very early in the morning special trains from
all directions brought huge swarms of people to the
quiet little city. In dense unbroken lines the crowd
poured out to the starting place, which was shut
off in a wide enclosure by a strong body of soldiers
and mounted police. Packed in further than the
eye could see, the crowd pushed back and forth in
a constant wavelike motion. The new comers
pushed forward and did not let the lucky ones who
were established on camp stools right behind the
fence enjoy their favorable position. There was
a constant crowding and pushing, so that often
there resulted jams dangerous to life and limb,
so the ambulance detachment had its hands full.

Yet the possessors of the best places could see
nothing but the immense bare shed which concealed
the space ship, together with the rails of the run-
way, coming from the end of the shed and spanning
the depressions like a railway trestle in its course
up the eastern slope.

The entire crew was already on board and was
taking in the last supplies under Berger’s com-
mand. Slowly the trucks crept through the scream-
ing crowd and unloaded, before the little side door
of the shed, chests, boxes, and bales, all of which
disappeared one by one into the dark opening.
After the baggage came a cage containing a pretty
little parrot, Berger’s mascot, which was uttering
loud cries of protest. Last of all appeared a crafty
movie photographer, who had hidden among the
baggage, to take close-ups during the unloading,
and was now protecting his booty amid struggles
and yells.

Korf and Sam had kept the last few days on
earth free and had gone out on the lake in a little
boat. Silently they looked over to the snow-cov-
ered mountains and woods of their home and said a
wordless good-bye. They were taking leave not
only of their native mountains and woods but also
of mother earth, of solid ground, of air and heat,
of the realm of mankind.

What would the future hours bring? Victory
or destruction? Would they ever again breathe the
air of earth and feel the ground under their feet
and sense the charm of fragrant spring? Of were
they destined to die in darkness and cold and dread-
ful loneliness?

Were they to be like Skoryna?

The thought of this wretched being awakened
Korf from his reverie. He shook off the soft emo-
tions which were threatening to overcome him in
this memorable hour of departure.

The early twilight of winter was commencing,
when Korf and Sam made their appearance, accom-
panied by Director Heyse, a prominent representa-
tive of the government, and a small group of care-
fully selected newspaper correspondents. The

44

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

crowd became excited. “There is Korf!” went as
quickly as lightning from one to another, and there
was a thunder of applause as the inventor’s car
passed into the enclosure.

Berger stepped up to Korf. “Ready for the
start!” he said in military style.

“Thank you !” said Korf, briefly but in a friendly
tone. Then he led his guests into the shed, which
was illuminated as bright as day by electric re-
flectors.

There lay the mighty space ship. It consisted of
a gigantic steel hull, shaped somewhat like a cigar,
ending in a blunt point with windows all around.
The rear end of this giant cigar (half of it painted
black, longitudinally, and half brightly polished)
showed the opening of the exhaust pipe of the auxil-
iary rocket between the stabilizing wings. The
men looked as tiny as ants beside the smooth hull
of the fantastic flying machine.

At a sign from Korf the doors opened, dazzling
lights flashed out into the darkness and driven by
unseen forces the ship slowly began to move and
glided majestically into the open on rollers moving
on the rails of the runway.

A loud hurrah from the vast throng greeted the
colossus as it glided out for its first emergence from
the protecting shed. Then it stood still again, but
within there was great activity. The wings moved
and spread out to their full extent. The shining
grub was unfolding its wings and becoming an im-
mense dragonfly with three pairs of wings, one be-
hind the other. On the point of the forward section
the German naval flag was blowing in the breeze.

The onlookers became silent. This then was the
fabulous machine about which all the newspapers
had talked for months. This was the sky ship of
steel and lead which was to carry brave men beyond
their native earth, which was destined to realize the
thousand year-old dream of humanity of conquering
the sidereal world. German inspiration and Ger-
man ability — would they conquer the might of the
earth and the sun?

Korf led his guests into the interior of the for-
ward section of the ship by way of a gangplank
which was quickly set up. The opening in the steel
wall led to a small chamber the size of an elevator.

“This chamber,” the engineer explained, “is the
one and only entrance to the parts of the ship which
are at all accessible. Its two pneumatic doors make
possible during the flight leaving the ship in this
manner : first coming into the chamber through the
inner door, then closing this door and opening the
outside one. Thus, during the entering and leaving
the air pressure in the interior is not affected. Nat-
urally it is not possible to leave the ship without a
‘space’ suit. The absence of pressure in space
would at once kill a man.”

Through this chamber the guests reached a cir-
cular room illuminated with electric light, a sort of
vestibule or hallway.

“This is the centre of the forward part of the
ship,” continued Korf, in the course of his explana-

tions, “around which are located the cabins, lava-
tory, dining room, smoking room, and electric
kitchen. Below are the tanks of the hydrogen
rocket.”

“Below?” inquired one of the reporters, doubting
whether he had heard correctly.

“That is so,” said Korf with a smile. “I must
first explain to you what is meant here by the terms
up and down. By ‘down’ we naturally mean the
direction in which pressure acts; during the as-
cent, as long as the rocket is in action, that is the
direction from the bow to the exhaust. In our lan-
guage on shipboard, therefore, the bow is always
‘up’, and the exhaust pipe, the rear end of the ship,
is always ‘down’. Of course this seems strange to
you, now that we are in a horizontal position. But
if you want to hold fast to the idea of ‘up’ and
‘down’, the longitudinal axis of the ship is the only
guide to a vertical direction. In the present gravi-
tational conditions the position of the tanks could
be better described as ‘behind the cabins’. More-
over, these tanks, together with the vaporization
chambers and the exhaust pipes, are not accessible
from within and are managed from the control point
by means of electric control.”

Korf turned to a circular passage which opened
into the central room.

“This passage leads to the extreme tip of the ship,
that is to say, ‘up’, in our vocabulary.”

Cautiously the men passed through the opening.
“But if the passageway is pointed upward," put
in one of them, “I do not understand how. . . .”
“How anybody is to go up and down, you mean ?
You will find no steps anywhere in the entire ship,
only easily movable rope ladders, which can be put
up in case of need. You must not forget that the
greatest part of the trip takes place in partial or
complete absence of weight. Steps would then be
only hindrances. Solid hand-holds on all the walls
and floors are the best aids t<5 progress from one
point to another. During the ascent, the only time
when there is a real and powerful pressure down-
ward, nobody has anything to do in the passages.”

Last Moments

I N the meantime Korf and the visitors had reached
the tip of the ship, an odd looking room located
at this point, resembling in form a truncated cone,
the round walls being equipped by strong glass
windows all around.

“Here is where the ship is controlled. The mul-
tiplicity of apparatus which you see fastened to the
walls here with strong springs, I cannot explain in
much detail in the short time available. In the main
switchboard the wires of all the measuring devices
come together, the results of which are registered
by electric currents. A gyroscopic system, in place
of the compass which is of no use here, shows the
momentary position of the ship and its changes in
direction. Three pressure springs, corresponding
to the three coordinates of space, reproduce the
components of acceleration which are likewise car-

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

45

ried by elecWc currents to measuring instruments
and combined by automatic planimeters. Other
apparatus automatically calculates from the ac-
celeration the speed attained and consequently the
distance travelled at any time. A series of scales,
connected with the manometers, hydrometers, and
the exterior aneroid barometers (all of which are
built into the ship at various points), give a com-
plete and easily observable picture of the entire
pressure condition both inside and outside the ship.
The equipment for navigation is supplemented by
optical and astronomical instruments of special
kinds. The various levers and switches control the
wings, the stabilizers, the pumps, and various other
apparatus. With a slight touch the entire ship may
be controlled.

“The most important device is this strong lever,
which controls the access of fuel to the exhausts.
It is, so to speak, the gas lever. Above it is the
scale, the pointer of which indicates the absolute
acceleration at any moment. The brilliant red line
upon it is the marker of the border line between
life and death. As long as the increase in speed
per second is below forty meters, there is no direct
danger to the lives of the crew. But if the pointer
rises much above this limit, which is sharply indi-
cated by the red line, we shall in all probability be
crushed by the frightful pressure.”

With a slight shudder the guests examined the
scales and- levers and carefully refrained from
touching anything. Great drawing boards with
conic section curves, serving for sketching in the
flight curves, stood on rotary stands, every bit of
solid wall being utilized.

“In the most extreme, that is to say highest, com-
partment of the tip,” said Korf, “a parachute of
one hundred and twenty square meters surface is
placed, folded together closely. In the most ex-
treme peril, if the engines do not work on landing
on earth, it can hold the crew and preserve it from
the crash. But I hope that it will never have oc-
casion to be used.”

Meanwhile it had become six o’clock.

“Unfortunately I must now ask you to leave the
ship. We have only twenty minutes more.”

They heeded this request only very unwillingly.
There were still so many unanswered questions
about the air supply, temperature, steering, the
course of flight, and so on. Nevertheless Korf
would not give any more explanations and repeated
his insistent request.

“Gentlemen,” he said, watch in hand, “every
second of delay in starting will alter the course of
the ship and put off for days the rescue of the
rocket. I beg of you to consider this !”

When Korf again appeared on the gangplank,
there was a new outburst of enthusiasm. Vainly
he tried to quiet the crowd; it was absolutely im-
possible. He gave up the idea of a speech and took
leave of the guests of honor with hearty hand-
shakes.

“Gentlemen,” he said simply, “please transmit

to mankind my thanks for the active support of my
enterprise. I hope that my ship will justify the con-
fidence reposed in me.”

Then a member of the crew passed around a tray
of full champagne glasses and quickly disappeared
again into the door. Korf raised his glass, and his
words rang out loudly and clearly over the wide
space :

“As once Geryon, the three-headed winged mon-
ster, conducted Dante across the abyss of Hell,
thus will Geryon, the three-winged space ship,
carry us safely over the abysses of space.

“Accordingly let Geryon be the name of my ship !
— Till we meet again !”

The glasses crashed on the ground, Korf cast
off the gangplank, the door closed, the flag on the
bow of the ship was taken in, and the reflectors
sending lights from the shed were extinguished.

A breathless stillness lay upon the multitude.
All eyes were fixed on the monster which was
hardly visible in the dusk. Suddenly it glowed in
a bright white light; the illumination tubes on the
surface of the hull had been switched on. The
brightness of day shone over the great enclosure
and dazzled the eyes of the onlookers.

After a few seconds there sounded a shot, the
signal arranged for the start.

The gigantic flying machine trembled, and a
shrill screaming sounded over the fields, so that the
people ducked their heads in terror. The upper two
auxiliary exhausts had been started, spitting out
behind them conical streams of fire. Slowly the
space ship moved onto the rails of the runway —
slowly for just a moment, for then it was off in a
mad dash.

Into The Infinite

Q UICKER and ever quicker the ship rushed
ahead. After a second it was^ taking the in-
cline. It raced up the slope with a speed many
times that of an express train. In ten seconds it
was past the kilometer mark — and now the brilliant
gigantic butterfly was rising, freed from its rollers,
freely floating into the night.

It was an overwhelming sight! A sea of yel-
lowish light flooded the densely packed multitude.
An outburst of thunderous applause followed the
space ship.

As though lifted by spirit hands, the fiery figure
sped obliquely upward in its mad course.

Then a thundering and rattling rent the air, so
that the people tried to flee in panic terror. Horri-
fied wide open eyes stared at the uncanny spectacle
in the air. The rocket was operating at maximum
power. The immense main exhaust had flamed
out, and a gigantic trail of fire stood out like a
comet’s tail behind the speeding ship.

A glistering spark fell, already far beyond the
chain of hills which framed the eastern shore. It
was a little parachute carrying a dispatch box, the
last direct greeting of the vanishing Geryon.

Nobody heeded it. All eyes were fixed on the

46

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

fiery comet which, though the work of human
hands, was making its luminous path across the
evening sky.

The starting place sank into darkness. In the
far distance the space ship was floating away, al-
ready too remote to illuminate the earth any longer.
It cast a ghostly reflection in the waves of the lake.

As yet two minutes had not passed. The Ger-
. yon now seemed to the beholders nothing but a
glowing dot. Then the trail of fire blazed out
anew.

Councillor Heyse looked at his watch.

“Ninety-eight seconds!” he said to his neighbor.
“Korf has just cast off the burned out auxiliary
rocket and started the second alcohol rocket.”

“About how far is the ship now?”

“There might be ninety kilometers between it
and us at present.”

“Incredible!” murmured the other. “From Lake
Constance to Munich in two minutes!”

“I estimate the Geryon now twenty thousand
meters above the central Alps. The highest peak
of the Himalayas cannot rival that height.”

After three more minutes the space ship was
visible only to very good eyes as a faint dot on the
southeastern sky. It might perhaps be seven hun-
dred kilometers from the starting place.

“Now the ship is racing through the last part of
the terrestrial atmosphere. The wings have done
their work, for the time being.”

The reporters crowded around the director of the
airport and carefully noted what he said.

Good field glasses still permitted observation of
the ship for some time. Then the dot in the heavens
vanished. Only the few lucky possessors of a very
powerful telescope could follow the Geryon any
further in its path, which turned more and more
to the south, until at about one o’clock it went be-
hind the wooded heights of Rohrschach, looking at
the time like a very faint star in the southwest.

“It is incomprehensible!” said Director Heyse,
as he was going home. “Just a few hours ago I
was standing in this space ship, which now, as a
tiny fragment of the earth out in space, is floating
between our planet and the moon !”

On the next morning the newspapers had long
accounts of the start and the course of the space
ship.

“Even if the Geryon ,” it was said there, “seems
to rhove around the earth in a constantly widening
spiral, which is an illusion caused by the rotation
of the earth, all the observations indicate that its
path is exactly in accordance with the predeter-
mined S-shaped curve of ascent and is directed to-
ward the constellation Aquarius, into which the
moon will also enter in three days.”

During the first half hour of the ascent some
radio messages had been received from the Ger-
yon, stating that so far the trip had gone smoothly
and without any trouble and that the crew was all
right. But these messages had soon ceased, since

the transmitter of the space ship could not reach
more than six thousand kilometers at most.

On the following evening, at exactly the same
time as the start, the Geryon reappeared in the
eastern sky. But now the little telescopes and
other aids to vision were useless. The public had
to depend on announcements from astronomical
observatories, whose great reflectors easily made
out the space ship, now at a distance of almost
fifteen diameters of the earth.

Again it rose higher in the heavens, crossed the
meridian, and inclined toward the southwest. But
before it reached the horizon, the tiny dot suddenly
vanished and was seen no more.

Panic terror seized the world, when all the ob-
servatories sent announcements agreeing that the
Geryon was no longer to be found in the sky.
There was still hope because of the Suchinow
rocket, which had so long remained undiscovered
while within the shadow of the earth. People tried
to calm themselves by assuming that Korf had
doubtless shut off the external lights, in order to
save energy.

But on succeeding nights, also, the Geryon
was no longer visible in the heavens. Even the
greatest observatories could no longer see anything.

What had happened?

Horror seized mankind. Had infinity swallowed
up a second sacrifice as well? To be sure, every
night they hoped that the extinguished spark would

shine forth again but in vain. Korf’s space ship

had disappeared.

Korf and his faithful men and Skoryna also were
regarded as lost — lost forever. A great depression
prevailed on earth.

CHAPTER XIV
First Moments

W HEN Korf, after the christening of the
Geryon, had cast off the gangplank, he
closed both the outer and inner doors
very carefully and then hurried to the control room,
where Berger was standing at the central switch-
board looking at the chronometer.

“Are you all ready for the start?” asked Korf,
casting an eye at the instruments and switches.

“Two men are at the generator, one is watching
the gasifier, and two are here ready with the flight
curves. The other five are at rest, but I am afraid
no one is closing his eyes.”

“I imagine not. As soon as we are having a free
run, you will also be off duty, Berger.” Korf looked
around. “Where is Dr. Finkle?”

“He is getting settled in his cabin. Shall I ask
him to come to the carrousel?”

Korf nodded and got into his hammock, which
was so placed that he could manage all the impor-
tant switches while lying down. The carpets which
had hitherto covered the curved floor had been re-
moved. During the ascent this “floor” would of
course become a wall, as soon as the pressure of

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

47

acceleration overcame that of the earth’s attraction.
The circular “wall,” now behind, would then form
the bottom of the room, which was traversed in the
middle by a strong round wall, for the switching
apparatus. This room resembled a “carrousel” or
merry-go-round, closed in on all sides and now
lying on one edge. Consequently the name “car-
rousel” had already become part of the vocabulary
of the ship.

Sam appeared in the carrousel.

“It is really a very comfortable coop which you
assigned me, Gus ! I feel at home in it already. It
is a bit narrow, of course, and I shall have to get
used to the hammock way up in the air, but. . .”

“Switch on the outside lights !” The order rang
through the speaking tube without the slightest
trembling of the voice to betray any excitement at
the greatness of the moment.

One last glance of examination of the travellers
in the carrousel, all lying in their hammocks, and
then Korf’s eye did not leave the chronometer.

Thirty-two minutes past six. The second hand
jumped further — two — five seconds.

Sam squinted sideways through the windows.
His glance travelled over the starting place and the
crowd of people. He saw a wave of excitement run
through the crowd ; he saw the emotion of the
brightly-lighted faces. No sound, however, entered

“You will enjoy making the ascent here, I am
sure!” interrupted Korf. “Please get quickly into
the hammock ! In two minutes the exhausts will
begin to operate, and then woe to anyone who is
standing up.”

In fright Sam obeyed and climbed into the sway-
ing net.

“All right?” Korf called through the speaking
tube to the lower rooms.

"All right!” was the calm reply, as though it
were merely the question of an ordinary Zeppelin
flight.

the hermetically sealed ship from without. Only
the measured throbbing of the motor which ran the
lights and the high pitched song of the generators
came from the engine room to his ears.

The hand progressed — twenty — thirty seconds.

Korf’s fingers moved toward the gas lever,
touched it, and rested calmly on the handle.

As though hypnotized, Sam stared at the sinewy
hand which in the next moment was to snap its
fingers at the supreme power of the earth. He ac-
tually felt the firm pressure of the fingers on the
lever. At lightning speed the events of the last

48

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

few months passed before his mind’s eye — the cares
and worries of his brother-in-law, the hunt for
Suchinow, Vacarescu, Natalka. . . .

Forty seconds — forty-five seconds —

Then the leader's hand moved. A push of the
lever, and something like distant thunder shook the
ship. The chronometer sprang back to zero. The
hammocks swayed.

The flight into infinity had commenced.

Outside the starting place was passing by; for
an instant Sam saw hats and handkerchiefs wav-
ing in a tumult of enthusiasm. Then in the light
of the ship, shining tree tops raced by. Further
off were the silhouettes of the houses of Fried-
richshafen, and behind them the surface of Lake
Constance gleaming.

Korf moved the ascending control, the wings
became oblique; the ship left the ground and rose
into the air.

The lower windows were free. A brilliantly
lighted strip lay below the ship. The ground
seemed to rush back, sinking lower; it shone more
weakly and disappeared. Outside the windows it
was black night.

Now Korf gave full gas to the main exhaust.
The thunder of the expulsion increased, becoming
a roaring and crackling, like Hell broken loose.
The acceleration indicator crept up the scale and
wavered at the point twenty.

Sam was groaning in his hammock, with a tre-
mendous weight pressing on him and squeezing his
throat.

Pressure !

Creaking, the springs of the hammocks stretched.
The cords tightened around the bodies, which were
pulling downward with increased weight. Ex-
hausted, Sam lay in the net, his glance directed
straight upward. It was strange — the windows
through which he had just been looking at the
starry sky were sinking down sideways, while the
circular forward wall was approaching and cutting
off the view.

With trouble Sam turned his head. In truth, the
arched wall of windows now surrounded him on all
sides, with the flat circular “floor” above and below.
The carrousel had assumed its proper position.

Thirty more seconds passed.

“Gus!” panted Sam.

“Yes, Uncle Sam?”

“Do you see that dim constellation out there
sideways, at the same height as ourselves? There
is a yellowish glow all around it. I never saw
such an uncanny looking constellation.”

Korf cast a rapid glance through the window.
“Constellation?” He read the altimeter. “Presum-
ably this constellation is Munich!”

In amazement Sam wanted to get up, but the
tremendous weight threw him back.

“Munich?” he groaned. “Have you lost your
senses? Since when did cities stick up on the sky?”

Korf did not answer. He was fixedly regarding

the acceleration scale, the indicator of which was
slowly receding.

“The auxiliary rocket is burned out, Berger. Un-
couple it!”

Berger’s hand had already been on the handle.
A slight pressure, and the mighty ship had divided.
In an oblique course the uncoupled rocket rushed
back to earth.

Quickly Korf’s hands were busy at the gas levers.
“Look out, here comes full gas on the middle
rocket 1”

The indicator rose again, crossed twenty, hast-
ened by twenty-five to thirty — thirty-one — and
wavered at thirty-two, where it stopped. The bril-
liant red line was at forty.

Three Minutes

T HE pressure became intolerable. The ham-
mocks sank deeply; the pressure on the men’s
chests was growing to be frightful. Sam could
scarcely breathe now. He tried to raise his hand,
but he succeeded only with a great effort, and his
arm sank back exhausted, striking his body heavily.
It seemed as though mercury were flowing in his
veins instead of blood, as though every limb had
become four times as heavy, as though four strong
men were lying on him and holding him fast. The
cords of the hammock were cutting through the
pads laid on them, and his back hurt.

Sam asked no more questions. He was struggling
for air. His lungs could scarcely raise the weight
of his chest. For a time he struggled against the
oppressive weight of his limbs, tried to say some-
thing, to cry out, then he sank back irresolutely,
overpowered by the uncanny force. He could no
longer even desire anything or think of anything.
His mind was enveloped in twilight.

Korf was also suffering a great deal from the
pressure. Reaching to execute the few simple man-
ipulations of the apparatus became a test of
strength. Only with the most extreme effort did
his muscles succeed in extending his arm, to bring
his hand to the lever.

The speedometer indicated six thousand meters a
second. Again the acceleration indicator moved
back.

“Detach the alcohol rocket!” mumbled Korf.
For the second time the ship divided. The pure
hydrogen rocket flamed forth and spit its glowing
vapors backward at an incredible speed.

The indicator came dangerously close to the red
line. The machine was developing its highest power.

Only five minutes had actually passed since the
start — an eternity to the crew. The raging noise
of the exhaust was silent. The Geryon was al-
ready racing through heights, the unusually thin
air of which could no longer convey sound.

There were still three minutes to hold out; then
the speed would be attained which would carry the
ship outside the limits of the earth’s force. The
speedometer rose evenly — seven thousand — eight
thousand meters a second.

A horrible thought passed through Korf’s mind.
What if he did not manage to summon up strength
enough to depress the gas lever !

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

49

Then with the high acceleration the speed would
keep increasing more and more, until at length even
the mighty supplies of the hydrogen rocket would
be exhausted. Then, without any fuel at all, there
would be no return possible. The ship would be
precipitated beyond the orbit of the earth, rushing
through the planetary realms in a mad course — on
a hyperbolic path, running into infinity. In less
than half an hour a speed would be reached which
would carry the ship for ever beyond the solar sys-
tem.

It was the seventh minute. The speeding ship
traversed nine thousand meters every second.

Slowly and painfully Korf raised his arm, sup-
porting it wearily in one of the slings hanging down
from the ceiling. There was only a hand’s breadth
between his fingers and the gas lever. Painfully
Korf fought for every centimeter. His strength
threatened to leave him. For a moment he paused
exhausted.

The instrument pitilessly announced a speed of
nine thousand eight hundred meters.

Great Heavens, only two seconds remained! A
push forward, his hand grasped the handle, and the
lever flew back.

Cold sweat stood on Korf’s brow. The fearful
exertion had used up the last remnant of his
strength.

The acceleration indicator sank, crossed the twen-
ty line, went below ten, and settled at the line mark-
ing three meters a second increase in speed.

The pressure sank as rapidly as it had come.

The chronometer showed eight minutes.

CHAPTER XV
Beyond the Earth

F OR a while nothing stirred in the “carrousel”.
The silence was broken only by the heavy
breathing of the five men.

Sam opened his eyes and looked about him. The
lights were burning, and the windows were black
yawning gulfs like the open jaws of beasts of prey.

He tried to sit up. He could do so : the mercury
in his veins was gone. Comfortably he stretched
and turned. It was a pleasure to be able to move
again, to have once more attained mastery over his
muscles. He drew a breath of relief, as after wak-
ing from a bad dream.

“Gus!” he cried. “Where are we now?”

There was no reply.

He climbed out of the hammock and walked over
to his brother-in-law, stepping cautiously and test-
ing the reliability of his legs. But what was this?
He could hardly keep his balance. At any quick
motion he threatened to fall over forward. He
felt that he was remarkably light. Or was it the
natural reaction from the dreadful pressure that
still hurt all his muscles?

Korf lay bathed in sweat. Anxiously Sam rubbed
his temples and held a bottle of camphor below his
nose. Slowly Korf opened his eyes and gazed
around uncomprehendingly. It was only a second
before complete consciousness returned to him.

He first glanced at the chronometer. It showed
twelve minutes. Quickly he jumped up. Berger
and the two members of the crew had also recov-
ered themselves.

“The hammocks can now be rolled up !” he called
to Berger and then began to study the curves of the
recording instruments.

“What a trip!” remarked Sam. “I shall never
forget those eight minutes in all my life. All my
bones hurt.” He felt himself all over carefully.
“Nothing seems to be broken.”

“Yes, in the long run no human being could en-
dure this pressure. Just take a look below, Berger,
to see whether everything is all right.”

“Gus!” began Sam, when Berger had disappear-
ed. “Where are we now, really ?”

Korf inspected the instruments. “Six thousand
kilometers headway and almost four thousand in
altitude.”

“Four thousand in altitude ?” repeated Sam. “And
Mt. Everest has nine thousand. Well!”

“Yes, but that is in meters! Our unit is the
kilometer !”

“Good Lord !” cried the physician. “Then we are
— why, we are four hundred times as high as the
loftiest point on earth !”

“Certainly !” Korf smiled. “The barometers out-
side have long been at zero. The atmosphere of the
earth is already far behind, and we are now float-
ing in space.”

Berger reported through the speaking tube. “All
right below ! The dispatch box was released after
fifteen seconds. The last radiogram has just been
sent !”

“Very good, Berger, you may now go off duty.”
Sam stood at the window and stared out into the
black night. “Then we can’t see anything more of
the earth?”

Korf stepped to his side and adjusted the tele-
scope.

“If you pay good attention, now and then you
will be able to make out a gleam of light — perhaps
the reflector of some lighthouse or else light signals
from a steamer floating down there on the Pacific.”
“The Pacific?”

“If it were bright, we could now see the earth
from the Philippines to the east coast of France.
Apparently we are now approximately over the
Persian Gulf.”

“Please point the telescope at Bombay for me. I
should like to take another look at the place where
I lived so long.”

Korf laughed loudly. “You are asking a good
deal, Uncle Sam.” He adjusted the telescope again.
“The Indian Ocean must be somewhere in this
direction. Perhaps you will succeed in making out
the yellow light of the illuminated city. Here’s
luck to you ! But do not imagine that you can in-
fluence the night life of India from here.”

The telescope was almost horizontal, with a
slight inclination downward.

“Bombay, Gus! I want to see Bombay, no|
Mars!”

“Well then, look through it!”

Sam stepped back in amazement. “Are you try-
ing to make a fool out of me? The earth is down
there !” He made a couple of violent gestures with
his hand toward the floor.

Korf winked at him, much pleased. “Certainly,
Lake Constance is there.”

"Well then!”

so

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

"And where do you suppose the centre of the
earth is to be found?”

“The centre of the earth? I have never been
there, but I suppose it is still lower down than
Lake Constance.”

“There, then !” Korf imitated Finkle’s gestures.

"Naturally! Where else?”

"Over there, Uncle Sam !” He pointed obliquely
out of the window. “There is the centre of the
earth, and in front of it is the Persian Gulf, over
which we are at present.”

Sam’s mouth remained wide open. “The earth
up there in the sky?”

“Do not forget,” Korf explained, “that we rose
at a very acute angle, almost parallel to the surface
of the earth. Accordingly we must look for the
earth off to one side. The pressure which makes us
feel the long axis of the ship to be vertical does not
come from the earth but from the force of our
rocket exhaust pipes.”

Finkle’s head went around like a mill wheel.

“If we had risen on the sunny side, that is to
say, in the daytime, we could now see the surface
of the earth beside us. The northwest edge of the
globe would be exactly at our feet, the southeast
edge on the contrary would appear almost level, and
the entire visible surface would include an angle of
almost ninety degrees. Unfortunately I cannot pro-
vide you with this doubtless grandiose view.”

“Then why didn’t we ascend by day?”

“Out of regard for terrestrial observations! In
that case we should have been somewhere between
the earth and the sun during the entire trip and
could not have been seen from the earth.”

Korf Stands By

K ORF busied himself with the flight curves and
left Sam to his thoughts, which were extremely
confused. He stared out into space and tried to
represent to himself that over there in the distance
was solid ground, with men standing and walking
there and never once having the idea of puzzling
out whether their legs actually did point to the
centre of the earth.

After a pause he remarked, “Surely millions of
eyes and hundreds of thousands of telescopes are
now pointed at us, staring after the speeding point
of light. And when I think of the millions of chilly
feet and the epidemic of headcolds which will rage
tomorrow down there or over there, I think it is a
matter of common politeness to answer their atten-
tion a bit. You are acting just as though the world
had already ceased to concern you.”

“Dear Uncle,” replied Korf with a smile, “the
indications of my instruments are incomparably
more interesting and important to me than the
black night out there. It will doubtless suffice if
you take over this duty of politeness — but I hope
not in respect to the cold feet.”

“I should say not. On the contrary, I find it actu-
ally uncomfortably hot here,” groaned Sam. “Can’t
you have the heat shut off a little?”

“Not this heat, unfortunately. It comes from out-
side.”

“From outside? I thought it was cold in space.
“Certainly ! But this heat came from the friction
of the air on the outer wall of our ship as it shot
through. For your comfort I can assure you that

this incubator temperature will not last long. Be-
sides, it has already decreased considerably.”

Korf again called Berger. “What is the temper-
ature down there ?”

“Thirty-three degrees Centigrade.”

“Well, the thermometer up here indicates thirty-
eight. Have some liquid oxygen sprayed around
and have the excess-pressure valves opened for a
short time.”

The heat was actually intolerable, and the evapor-
ating oxygen brought only slight relief.

Sam yawned to his heart’s content. “I am sur-
prisingly tired !” he remarked, wiping his forehead.
“I do not know why, but I feel as though I had
been out all night on a spree. But we have been
less than half an hour on the way.”

“It will be all right for you to go to sleep, Uncle
Sam,” said Korf, who knew that this fatigue was
not merely due to the heat. “When you wake up
again, there will be no more of these unpleasant
phenomena which the earth has presented us on
parting. For the present there is nothing to be
seen but black night. Sleep well, uncle, and if you
need anything, ring for the orderly.”

Yawning wearily, Sam climbed down the sway-
ing rope ladder, crossed the central room, and en-
tered his cabin. The inviting white hammock at-
tracted him very much, and before he thought of
undressing, he sank down and fell at once into a
dreamless sleep.

Korf remained at his post, although he had to
struggle against the uncanny weariness and limp-
ness of his limbs and suffered from the breathless
heat. But as long as the Geryon was still float-
ing within the earth’s region of power, he dared not
entrust the observation of the instruments to any-
one else. Data had to be assembled for the future
landing manoeuvers, and the least negligence might
lead to serious consequences.

From time to time he depressed the acceleration
lever. The pressure decreased proportionately and
all objects lost weight. He could have shut off the
exhaust completely, since the Geryon had long
since attained the speed which would safely take it
from the reach of the earth. But Korf was insistent
on reaching his goal as quickly as possible. He did
not give up the hope of finding Skoryna still alive.
Perhaps his spark of life was actually at the point
of being extinguished, and one single moment soon-
er or later might decide matters.

The night continued, and the clocks showed the
sixth hour since the start. Seventy thousand kilo-
meters, almost double the circumference of the
earth, separated the crew of the space ship from
mankind. Unchanged deep night surrounded the
ship, and nothing more was to be seen of the earth.
Only a wide starless place indicated the spot where
their native planet was floating.

“Now the presses of the morning papers are
working,” thought Korf. “People will struggle for
the sheets still damp from the press and will eagerly
wait for messages from California, in the field of
vision of which we now are.”

More and more the ship radiated its heat into
space. Again they felt free and easy and took a
breath of relief, as though a tremendous pressure
had been removed.

Korf smiled as he thought of the surprises in

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

51

store for all of them in this matter. Since no more
danger threatened the Geryon, which had escaped
from the earth, he no longer hesitated to be relieved
by Berger and to take a few hours’ rest.

CHAPTER XVI
A New Day

HEN Sam awoke, his first glance was at his
watch. “Nine o’clock?” he reflected. “What
does that mean? Nine in the morning or
nine in the evening?”

He quickly performed his toilet and rang for the
orderly.

“Just tell me, what time is it now?”

“Half past fourteen.”

“What!”

“Half past fourteen, doctor. Here time is reck-
oned from the ascent and the hours run from zero
to twenty-four.”

“Where is Mr. Korf?”

“He is sitting with Mr. Berger in the carrousel
and has several times inquired for you, doctor.”

Sam hurriedly drank his coffee and then hastened
to the control room. Everywhere electric bulbs were
burning. There was no sign of daylight.

“Well, that’s what I call sleeping, Uncle Sam!”
was Korf’s merry greeting. “You did not get bed
sores, did you?”

“Far from it! I feel wonderfully fresh and gay,
and it seems as though I had become ten years
younger by this sleep. Have I really slept so long?
The boy told me it was fourteen o’clock. My watch
says nine, and the night is not over yet. I am now
quite lost in the calendar.”

“Yes, Uncle Sam, by Friedrichshafen local time it
is now certainly nine o’clock. But you had better
set your watch by the ship’s time. It is foolish to
reckon here by the local time of some spot on
earth.”

“When is it really day in this gloomy region?”
asked Sam, who was walking up and down with
long springy strides. Occasionally he had to catch
his balance in order not to fall.

“As soon as the sun is no longer hidden from us
by the earth. That may be in about four hours.
In the meantime we must be satisfied with the light
of the stars and the moon.”

Korf turned out the electric light. Still it was
not absolutely dark in the room. There came in at
the side a faint silvery light, which cast great sha-
dows and would have sufficed for reading a news-
paper, in case of need.

“Yonder is the moon, though only the half disk.
If it were full, we could not complain about dark-
ness. The stars also give a perceptible illumina-
tion.”

In fact the stars were radiating a quiet even light,
without twinkling, much brighter than on earth,
because there the dense atmosphere absorbs a great
deal of the light.

“It is not so simple to find your way here in the
sky,” continued Korf. “The constellations familiar
to us are almost effaced by the great number of
small faint stars which on earth cannot be seen
with the naked eye on account of the air. In this
swarm back there,” said he, pointing diagonally
upward with his hand, “you will recognize with

some difficulty the constellation of the Little Bear
(Little Dipper), in the tail of which is the pole
star, around which the entire sky seems to revolve,
as viewed from the earth. For us it has lost its
central position and remains only a welcome aid in
locating the axis of the earth and thereby the
earth’s orbit, the ecliptic.”

In a hasty sketch he further explained the paths
of the earth, the moon, and the space ship. Sam
was amazed.

“Then the rotation of the sky has ceased for us ?”
“As long as the Geryon does not rotate,” Korf
agreed, “no star either rises or sets for us. Of course
the moon does not, either, or for that matter the
sun, once it comes out from behind the earth.”
“Vitruvius once said : ‘The sky is that which un-
endingly revolves about the earth and the sea on
a fixed axis.’ With this idea the good man went to
his grave, and for centuries he was regarded as one
of the world’s wise men. It is too bad that we can-
not invite this learned man to visit us for a quarter
of an hour. He would experience something!”
Berger interrupted the conversation: “Shall I
check the speed still more, Mr. Korf?”

“What is the speed?”

“Two thousand meters a second.”

“For the present let the upper auxiliary exhaust
work with one-quarter power. Otherwise the speed
would decrease too rapidly.”

“Two thousand meters speed?” put in Sam.
“Isn’t that a good deal less than right after the
start ?”

“Certainly. At the end of the eighth minute we
had reached the parabolic speed suitable for that
altitude, ten thousand meters a second. Naturally
this speed does not remain constant, but decreases
under the influence of the attraction of the earth,
at first quickly and then more and more slowly, just
as with a stone which is thrown up in the air. But
before it is entirely used up, the limit of gravity
between the earth and the moon is reached — that is
to say, the distance from the earth at which the
attraction of the moon begins to be stronger. Then
the ship does not fall back to the earth but to the
moon.

“This is the whole secret of pushing out into
space, just giving a ship this parabolic speed. Then
the flyer goes on by itself.”

“Well, that is very simple! But why don’t we
feel anything now of the speed which is still great ?”
“What we so keenly felt during the ascent was
the acceleration, not the speed, which is not at all
perceptible. In your consultation room in Fried-
richshafen did you ever feel that you were at all
times going in the earth’s orbit around the sun at
the frightful rate of thirty kilometers a second?”
“Does the earth travel thirty thousand meters a
second?” Dr. Finkle became eager, and his interest
in astronomy took a visible increase.

“A splendid speed, isn’t it?”

Sam’s brow wrinkled. “But it doesn’t agree,
Gus !”

“How so?”

“Where are we going to arrive with our Geryon,
which is now making only two thousand meters a
second, if I just heard correctly? Won’t we be so
far behind the speeding earth in a very few minutes
that catching up will be out of the question?”

52

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

“At the first glance, Uncle Sam, what you say
seems to be correct. The circumstances are even
more unfavorable. It is not only the earth that runs
away from us, according to your theory; it is well
known that the sun, also, along with all its planets
is moving away in the direction of the constellation
Hercules, this being at a speed of about twenty
kilometers a second.”

“Good Heavens, where are we going to arrive?”
“And if we assume,” Korf proceeded, “that the
sun likewise rotates about a centre which is also
moving, then the whole business becomes very
complicated, doesn’t it?”

A Stowaway

T HERE was a roguish smile on his face. Sam
thought hard. He could find no other solution
than that the “Geryon” needed to go faster than
two kilometers a second.

“Don’t wrack your brains any more, Uncle Sam !

“Up to this point!”

“All right! This caterpillar now crawls from
the extreme tip of a blade of the fan to the hub at
the maximum speed that it can attain by crawling.
It will then reach its goal in a very definite time.
It does not need to bother its head about describing
a spiral course on account of the rotation of the fan,
besides being moved forward by the motion of the
train, whirled around by the rotating earth, carried
along in the orbit of the earth about the sun, and
so on.

“Well, just tell me the absolute velocity of the
caterpillar and the kind of curve in which it moves !”

Sam scratched his head and did not reply.

“That is exactly the case with us. The blade of
the fan is our earth-moon system, and so far as I
am concerned the course of the train corresponds
to the motion of the earth.

“If the caterpillar wanted to leave the fan to en-
joy a bouquet placed on one of the tables, it would

This diagram illustrates the complexity of the motion of any terrestrial object. At
the right the caterpillar on the electric fan blade wishes to crawl to die center. But
while he is moving the fan is rotating, the train on which die fan is located is mov-
ing, the earth is rotating and moving in its orbit and the solar system is moving.
But the caterpillar wishing to complete his journey may ignore all motions but his

own.

I frankly confess to you that I myself have no idea
at what absolute speed, in case there is such a thing
at all, our ship is travelling in space. It does not
matter at all.”

“It matters to me whether Mother Earth escapes
us for ever or not. I should not care to stay fon
all time in your splendid machine, travelling about
in the least known regions of space.”

Sam seemed to feel a little discomfort, though he
said to himself that there must be some error in his
calculation.

“Don’t worry ! The earth is not getting away
from us. How shall I explain it to you? In the
earth-moon system we have the speed calculated
and for the time being nothing else concerns us.
You will best understand by an example.”

Korf reflected for a while. Then he continued:
“Imagine a dining car in a Pullman train. On
the ceiling of the car is an electric fan. On this
is a small caterpillar. Do you follow me, uncle?”

certainly have to take into account the motion of
the fan; if it even wanted to leave the dining car,
because things looked better in the green meadow,
it would suddenly perceive and have to take into
account that the train was rushing through the
world.

“That is just the case with us. If we wanted to
go to Mars, then we should have to take into ac-
count, beyond any doubt, the orbit of the earth, in
order to get from it to the orbit of the neighboring
planet.

“What did you say months ago ? It is all a ques-
tion of the relation in which one stands to things.
How right you were, Uncle Sam ! Here, too, it
depends on the viewpoint from which one regards
things. Everything is relative in the world, even
the purely material things.

“Do you understand now that I do not know the
absolute course of our Geryon, and that there is no
such thing at all?”

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

53

How simple it all sounded? Sam already regret-
ted his silly question and determined henceforth to
present his theories more carefully. He could only
with difficulty rid himself of his earthly ideas and
views. It was hard for him to imagine that phe-
nomena which are incontestable and taken for
granted on earth, about which nobody thinks at all,
were fundamentally altered here or even made non-
sensical.

For a long time he stood at the windows, letting
the pure noble world of stars act upon him, while
his pensive thoughts were scattered like cosmic
dust. Thus the time passed. No experience and no
event could disturb the stillness of their cosmos,
unless it came from the little group of earthly men.
And this even, which surprised all of them without
exception, was not long delayed.

From the supply room came violent calls and
yells, quick steps sounded, and a sailor rushed ex-
citedly into the control room.

“Mr. Korf,” he panted. “There is a stowaway on
board ! He was hidden among the boxes in the sup-
ply room. The cook just found him. He refuses
to answer our questions and only wants to speak
with you."

Berger jumped up in amazement. “How was
this possible? Have the entire crew mustered in
the mess room. Woe to the guards that let this
man sneak in !”

“Don’t get excited, Berger!” said Korf. “First
we will listen to the man himself. Of course, if
there has been a gross neglect of duty, I shall im-
pose a severe punishment. Bring in the stranger !”

Pushed along by powerful shoves, a man stum-
bled up the ladder. Korf at once recognized in him
one of the reporters to whom he had shown the ship
shortly before the start. He had been struck by the
man’s thick, dark full beard, entirely out of style,
which grew over his whole face and now hung
down to his breast in tangled strands.

Apparently the bold man had taken advantage of
an unguarded moment to hide himself, in order to
take the trip and be able to furnish his paper with
accurate accounts of the journey. He seemed to be
in bad shape. He was all used up and bleeding
from many cuts, and he could scarcely stand up.
Since no springy hammock had protected him dur-
ing the ascent, he must have been injured by the
pressure.

“Your adventure may cost you dearly, sir!” said
Korf to the intruder. “Apparently you do not
know that I have life and death power over all the
occupants of my ship! How did you get into the

Gcryon?”

“I shall give you all the explanation you want,
Mr. Korf, in private!" whispered the man, smooth-
ing his disordered beard. The voice was familiar to
Korf. This eastern Jewish German he had heard
not very long ago. A suspicion passed through his
mind.

“Mr. Berger,” he ordered, “just take the crew for
a while to the mess room.”

When Korf was alone with Sam and the stranger,
he switched on the light, walked coolly up to the
reporter, and with a jerk pulled off his beard, which
was false.

“Why did you do it, Mr. Suchinow?”

The green-spotted face of the Russian was un-
moved.

“Your trip concerns Skoryna’s rescue, Mr. Korf.
You would have refused my request to be taken
along. But I have to be with this expedition. What
else could I do but use a trick? I purchased the
card of one of the favored reporters ; this unworthy
being sold it to me for a not excessive sum. That
is all.”

Sam hardly trusted his eyes when he saw this
man before him. “Have you forgotten our agree-
ment?" he whispered to Suchinow in Roumanian.
“You gave me your word that time in Budapest.”

“Not to undertake anything against Korf,” put
in Suchinow, likewise in Roumanian. “I have kept
my word and I am still keeping it!”

Korf walked thoughtfully up and down. What
did this man want here? He could imprison him or
kill him, not being accountable to any court on
earth.

“But why did you have to be on this expedition?
If you were impelled by scientific interest, then you
certainly had a chance to traverse space in your
own rocket.”

“My contract with the Transcosmos Company
did not permit me to go in the rocket. But you are
right, it is less interest in spatial navigation itself
that impelled me to this adventure than the special
aim of this trip — the rescue of Skoryna.”

“For which your personal presence was totally
unnecessary, Mr. Suchinow. I am inclined to treat
you as a prisoner.”

“I know that my life is in your hands. Do as you
see fit. In a short time you will understand what
actually caused me to intrude into your ship. For
the present, please excuse me further explanations.
That is all I ask.”

“Very well! For the time being I shall assign
you a cabin which you will not leave without my
special permission.”

Suchinow bowed slightly. “Thank you, Mr.
Korf.”

Korf telephoned to Berger, who at once ap-
peared.

“Your mind may be at ease, Mr. Berger. There
is no fault to be found with either yourself or the
crew. My own carelessness made it possible for
this gentleman to sneak on board. He is a French
reporter. Monsieur Vale is for the present myi
prisoner. Take him to the extra cabin and look out
for him.

“And one more thing, Berger! Please under-
stand that I will not allow Monsieur Vale to be
annoyed by the crew' in any way.”

When Suchinow was gone, Sam gave vent to
his dissatisfaction. “What a shameless fellow!
Wasn’t it enough that he should use Natalka to
. ...” he suddenly stopped and then went on
quickly: “He certainly cannot complain of lack of
courtesy on your part. Why were you so gentle
with him, Gus?”

“Because there was no point to being otherwise.
Here he is, and I cannot have him put ashore. I
am also convinced that he has no hostile purpose.
What could he do? Any move directed against
myself or the ship would plunge him to destruction.
And I really cannot think what reason he would

54

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

have to injure me. I guess that this unexpected ad-
dition to the number on board is connected with
the mystery about which you have forbidden me
to speak. So we shall simply wait calmly — there
will be an answer to the question.”

CHAPTER XVII
Free From Gravity

T HE next few hours of the trip to the moon
passed without any special events. Outside
the space ship nothing was to be seen but the
stars shining brightly on the black sky and the
yellowish disk of the moon, still low on the equator
and apparently getting no nearer.

At first it was surprising to Sam that the course
of the ship was not actually directed at the moon.
But his newly acquired astronomical knowledge
made it possible for him to calculate with some
difficulty how fast the moon was moving in its
orbit.

“By the time we get where the moon will be
when we get there, the moon will be there, too!”
was the excellent result of his figuring.

Then he withdrew to the smoking room, the only
place on shipboard where he could busy himself
with his beloved pipe otherwise than platonically.
He lay smoking away comfortably in one of the
hammocks which were used here as in all of the
rooms of the ship. Now for the first time he felt
perfectly comfortable. The strict rule against
smoking in the carrousel had kept him from feeling
a really unmixed joy of living.

The attraction of the distant earth became less
and less. The loss in speed became constantly less,
and the activity of the rocket exhausts was de-
creased accordingly. The decreasing pressure was
becoming noticeable.

All objects lost weight, apparently. Limbs be-
came free and light, while there was no alteration
in the muscular power which was attuned to ter-
restial conditions. The engineers playfully lifted in
one hand the heavy steel cylinders in which the
liquid oxygen was kept, the moving of which had
hitherto required a windlass and block and tackle.
A joyous existence commenced for the cook in the
electric kitchen. He could now drop plates and
cups as much as he pleased : they slowly floated
down to the floor and were not broken.

Soon these phenomena increased to such an ex-
tent that Sam, desiring to finish his rest after smok-
ing, had to pay for his leap from the hammock
with a severe bruise. He had struck the cabin ceil-
ing, three meters above the floor. And when he
turned the water faucet to wash his hands, the
fresh liquid indeed sprayed out into the basin as
usual, but the drops rebounded, rose into the air,
and spread out as a fine vapor all through the room,
finally sinking slowly to the floor and moistening
everything.

Korf had indeed prepared him for all these phe-
nomena. Yet he could not restrain a slight start,
when every heedless step developed into a tremend-
ous jump upward.

“Gently, gently!” he commanded himself. “Don’t
exert too much force and don’t be in a hurry! You
will simply get bruised.”

His medical interest was awakened by a peculiar
pulling sensation in the region of the chest and
stomach, by the unusually accelerated beating of
the heart, and on the other hand by the striking
insensibility to pressure and blows, for establish-
ing which there was ample chance. He conscienti-
ously investigated his body, connected up his ob-
servation with the balance-organ of the human sys-
tem, the chalk bodies floating in the semi-circular
canals in the inner ear, made further investiga-
tions, and sought for teleological explanations.
Sharply and logically he drew his conclusions. He
was struck by the clarity of his thoughts and the
speed with which his brain worked.

But these bodily phenomena soon lessened. There
remained only a certain freedom from all feeling of
discomfort, which expressed itself in his splendidly
happy and unconcerned frame of mind.

The ladder to the carrousel he took in a single
bound without any effort. Going down was changed
to a gentle downward glide, without touching the
steps. Sam could not help thinking of a dream
which he had had incessantly since his youth, which
still reappeared at longer or shorter intervals.
Mighty swimming strokes with his arms and legs
used to lift him in these happy dreams over trees
and houses, and he gently floated down, by making
the right motions. This dream had now become
reality, something he had never thought possible,
but with a difference: his “flight” was here inter-
rupted by the ceiling, which opposed premature
and painful limits to it.

The crew now went about in the ship almost ex-
clusively by floating, and frequent cries of pain
from the ceiling showed that it is hard for a person
not to use the strength given him by nature. Sam
could not keep back his laughter. The orderly
grinned, the cook, the crew, and everybody showed
the most delighted faces. Even Berger seemed to
have got over his anger on account of the stow-
away.

“To-day I have become twenty years younger,
Gus!” cried Sam, as he floated like a ghost into
the little casino which was connected with Korf’s
cabin and served as the officers’ mess room.

“Stop right there!” replied Korf with a laugh.
“We are not equipped to care for infants.”

“It is simply great to travel around the universe
this way!”

“Yes, one is tempted to turn somersaults and to
slide down banisters like children,” remarked Korf,
pushing away from the ceiling, which he had ap-
proached by a careless move.

“One can rightly sing: ‘We led a life free from
care!’ Free even from gravity!”

Sam Learns the Mysteries of Space

A T dinner there were mad scenes. The soup swam
around in the air in tiny drops, until they
learned to carry the spoon slowly to the mouth. A
slight push on the table leg raised the entire table
into the air. The general rising after the meal pro-
duced a wild confusion of chairs and persons whirl-
ing around in the room. In among things Berger’s
little parrot was fluttering around the lamp, screech-
ing anxiously, and carrying his cage along on his

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

55

wings. After that the cage had to be tied down, to
prevent mishap.

“Just tell me, Gus,” cried Sam through the up-
roar, “how much do I really weigh now?”

Korf tried to suppress his own limitless amuse-
ment, which was hard to suit to the dignity of the
commander of a ship.

“We now have from nine to ten centimeters ac-
celeration pressure, that is to say, one one-hun-
dredth of the normal gravity on earth. What
weighs one hundred pounds on earth is here re-
duced to one pound. We couldn’t get more than a
pound and a quarter out of you. Uncle Sam !” He
looked at his watch. “It is time for us to go above.
I am expecting the sun soon, and we do not want to
miss this spectacle !”

Then he turned to Berger: “Have you extin-
guished the outside lights?”

“Yes indeed, Mr. Korf!”

“Perhaps there will be a little fright on earth,
when the Geryon suddenly disappears. But we
must be a bit economical with our supplies of en-
ergy. Besides, the sun will soon make us visible
again.”

In the carrousel the electric light was extin-
guished except for a small lamp over the switch-
board. Korf did not turn on the other lights, since
he did not want to interfere with the observations
outside. On the windows was the silvery glow of
the moonlight, softening the darkness. The loca-
tion of the earth was only to be distinguished by the
dark starless spot, which spread out almost directly
below like a hole in the starry canopy.

Korf and Sam sat on chairs screwed to the floor,
holding firmly to the arms. On account of the lack
of weight, it would have been otherwise impossible
to remain standing quietly at the windows. The
slightest movement would have started them float-
ing off.

“Gus,” said Sam, breaking the stillness, “there is
something else that is not clear to me.”

“I am not surprised. A great many events are
puzzling to me, too.”

“I mean the decrease in weight. If I, as you say,
weigh only a pound now, that is no reason for me
to float about in the room like an angel. A pound
is, after all, a weight that is in the habit of falling
to the floor very rapidly.”

“That is where you are bringing up a subject
which is hard to explain. You must first know that
weight is nothing but hindered motion. You know
that the earth attracts all bodies. A stone lying on
the ground cannot follow this attraction ; it presses
on what is under it. It has weight which exactly
corresponds in value to the acceleration which it
would experience if it were not supported. On the
surface of the earth this acceleration is the same for
all bodies. A stone dropped from a church tower
sinks five meters in the first second, fifteen in the
second, twenty-five in the third, and so forth — ten
meters more every second. To be more exact, nine
and eight-tenths meters. From your school days you
doubtless recall this figure nine and eight-tenths,
which is called the normal acceleration on earth.

“In the first three seconds the stone accordingly
falls forty-five meters in all. If the objects in our
ship possess only one one-hundredth of their nor-
mal weight, in three seconds they fall only the same

number of centimeters. But that is no longer fall-
ing, simply gentle gliding down.”

“I understand perfectly. And does this decrease
in weight come from the greatly weakened attrac-
tion of the earth so far off?”

“This is a plausible supposition, but it is not cor-
rect. The slight remnant of weight we owe entirely
to the activity of the exhaust pipes, which to be sure
are directed in the same way as the diminished
gravity.”

Sam started. “Do you mean that our weight de-
pends merely on your gas lever, and that we will
be weightless as soon as you feel inclined to set the
lever at zero?”

“That is just what I mean !” agreed Korf calmly.

“But see here! Just consider that you cannot
shut off the attraction of the earth at will ! Or can
you?” cried Sam desperately.

“Of course I cannot!” said the engineer, much
amused. “The attraction of the earth is effective,
even though it is weak at this distance.”

“Now I am eager to see how you will make sense
out of this confusion,” remarked Sam, shaking his
head.

“Listen! If I shut off the gas lever, then the
ship and all that is in it yields to the attraction of
the earth. It becomes like a freely falling stone,
which is not supported and therefore is weight-
less.”

“A fine prospect ! Then we would fall back again
to Lake Constance!”

“We are saved from that by the high speed which
we so painfully secured. We would then describe *
a gravitational curve — the infinitely prolonged line
of a parabola or rather a hyperbola. We would
certainly make a free fall, not downward with in-
creasing speed but upward with decreasing speed !”

“Fall upward?” stammered the physician. “Lis-
ten, Gus! For Heaven’s sake, stop! I am getting
dizzy. These ‘explanations’ will drive me crazy!”

He held his arms out in a defensive gesture; he
had had enough of it. Korf pressed the excited
doctor back on his chair and said soothingly:

“Permit me just one more remark, Uncle Sam.
Keep this firmly in mind : we are always weight-
less when nothing influences the Geryon in its
natural motion, neither mechanical power from
within nor air resistance from without, no matter
how near we may be to the earth or to any other
heavenly body. . . .”

A cry of amazement cut short Korf’s conclusion.

“Gus, see this arc of fire down there ! The earth !”

A Dawn In Space

D OWN in the depths there was flaming torth a
monstrous fiery arc extending halfway around
the circle. At the extreme right edge of the earth’s
disk the sunbeams were appearing, making radiant
outshoots in the atmosphere, and flashed in sheaves
of light against the dark interior of the earth, the .
edge of which arose circular and deep black from
the sea of light of its corona. It looked as though
the mighty black disk of the earth — at this distance
apparently twelve times the size of the moon and
comparing with it like a hen’s egg with a pea — had
begun to glow at the edge and was shooting out
immense sheets of flame.

Insignificant and tiny, the sickle of the moon

Down in the depths there was flaming forth a monstrous fiery arc extending half-
way around the circle. At the extreme edge of the earth’s disc, the sun beams werg
appearing, making radiant outshoots to the atmosphere.

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

57

floated at one side of the vast arc of light of the
brightening earth. In amazement the occupants of
the ship watched the fabulous spectacle, from the
impression of which the dullest soul could not have
escaped.

Korf telephoned to the orderly: “I invite Mr.
Vale to come to the carrousel.”

Sam cast a look of understanding at his brother-
in-law. It would have been cruel to have kept any-
one from this sight, this impression never to be for-
gotten.

Suchinow soon appeared, bowed slightly, and
sank like the rest into silent wonder.

The splendor of the earth’s sickle increased. At
the top of the arc the sheaves of light seemed to be
uniting into so blindingly brilliant a point that it
was painful to look at it — and slowly the sun ap-
peared from behind the earth. It had become im-
possible to look at the dazzling light without colored
glasses.

“Attention ! It is daybreak for us !” Korf’s call
brought their attention back to the ship itself.

Daylight was in the room. From below the sun-
beams came in and cast bright yellow spots of light
on the circular ceiling. The mats which covered
some of the windows were glowing like translucent
curtains.

After a trip of eighteen hours in darkness and
night, daylight had set in, to remain faithful to the
Geryon on the rest of the journey. Bright warm
sunshine flooded the lighted side of the ship, while
the shady side continued in deep darkness. A
sunny, ever cloudless day was shining through the
windows on the side toward the sun, but the op-
posite windows were veiled in black night. Day
was not like that on earth.

There was no blue sky spread out above the
Geryon. The firmament, in which the stars were
shining peacefully, was deep black. Even very
close to the sun one could make out all the stars
by merely covering the white hot disk with the
thumb. If such a ship had been available to Coper-
nicus, he would not have had to go to his grave
without seeing the planet Mercury.

The objects struck directly by the sun’s rays —
the external frames of the windows, for example —
shone with a supernatural phosphorescent glow, in
sharp contrast with the black sky. They reflected
the light into the interior of the ship. It had finally
escaped the last effect of the earth, its shadow.

CHAPTER XVIII
Cold Space

U NCEASINGLY the lonely space ship pursued
its course through space, every hour increas-
ing by thousands of kilometers its distance
from the earth. The shining crescent of this planet
was growing fuller and fuller, showing in plastic
form the spherical shape.

So far as there was no hindrance through clouds,
it was possible to make out the forms of the conti-
nents on the illuminated portion. Their brownish
contours were sharply contrasted with the darker
oceans. In the regions north of the equator the
dull brown of the continents faded into light greys,
because of the winter snows in the northern hemis-

phere. The north pole itself was veiled in the dark-
ness of the polar night.

For hours Sam sat at the eye piece of the great
telescope, which was now pointed directly down.
He was watching the continents slowly emerge
from darkness at the inner side of the crescent of
light, pass across the bright part, and then dis-
appear again at the outer edge. The rotation of the
earth could be observed as well as the motion of
the setting moon can with some patience be fol-
lowed from the earth. In the telescope, spaces as
big as a metropolis appeared as barely perceptible
points. Identifying localities was made easier by
the shadows of the mighty mountain chains of the
Cordilleras, the Alps, the Carpathians, and the Him-
alayas.

“How fine it would be,” he once remarked, “if we
only had a powerful telescope that could distin-
guish separate houses down there. Then we could
see about things down in Friedrichshafen, control
the course of airships, and thus be something like
a deity. A little turn of the screw, and the eye
jumps from Bucharest to New York!”

“Be patient a little while, Uncle Sam, and then
you will have this giant telescope at your disposal,”
replied Korf, moving his arms about and shivering.
“As soon as we can leave the Geryon, I shall build
outside a combination of lenses that will be ten
times stronger than the greatest telescopes on earth.
There is no dim, light-consuming air to prevent
using any enlargements we like. But don’t you
find it uncomfortably cold?”

In fact, the temperature in the ship had already
sunk below the freezing point. The heat evolved
during the passage through the atmosphere had
long since been radiated into space, and the electric
heating devices could no longer replace the con-
stant losses.

“I have a very simple means of producing any
desired temperature,” continued Korf. “I only need
to catch the heat of the sun. But . . .”

“What ‘but’ is there? It will not hurt the sun
to give us a little of its surplus heat.”

“Not the sun, of course, but Heyse and Vaca-
rescu 1”

“For Heaven’s sake, Gus, have you lost your rea-
son? What in the world do Heyse and Vacarescu
gain from our freezing here?”

“Assurance that the Geryon still exists.”

“I do not understand that.”

“It is very simple, just the same. You surely
noticed before the ascent that the outer wall and
the wings of our ship are painted black on one side,
while on the other they are brilliantly polished and
mirror-like. At present the mirror side is turned
to the sun and reflects not only the sun light, thus
making us visible on earth, but unfortunately the
sun’s heat as well. If I now turn the ship so that
the black half absorbs the sun’s rays, the heat comes
in. On the other hand, it is hindered from radiating
into space by the shiny coat which will be on the
shady side. This will make it warm in here, but
on earth people will vainly look for the Geryon
and will rack their brains over the question of
where we have gone. The trifling amount of light
reflected by the rough black side will hardly suffice
to penetrate the atmosphere of the earth. Anyway,

58

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

we are already more than one hundred and fifty
thousand kilometers distant.”

“Well, it is a very bad situation!” grumbled Sam.
“Couldn’t we avoid disappointing them this way
by increasing the artificial heating?”

“To reach an endurable room temperature, start-
ing at two hundred and seventy degrees below zero,
in a ship the size of ours, would require such an
amount of heat that we could not possibly produce
it with the artificial means at our disposal. We
must give up the idea. There is nothing to do but
hide for a while from the observers on earth.”
“And how do you manage this turning?”
“Between the cabins and the tank rooms are three
immense driving wheels. The axes of the driving
wheels are at right angles to each other, as in a
three-dimensional compass. If the wheel the axis
of which coincides with the long axis of the ship is
rotated clockwise, the ship turns counterclockwise,
according to the law of action and reaction. In this
manner the ship may be given any desired position
in space by starting the proper driving wheel. Of
course these wheels have to rotate very fast. If
the ship is to make a complete turn in a minute, the
wheel must make a number of revolutions as much
greater as its mass is smaller than that of the whole
ship.”

Korf had the gyroscope motor started. A dull
humming commenced, which came to a higher pitch
and finally sounded very shrill. Slowly, almost
imperceptibly, the sun and the earth moved laterally
around the ship. After a few minutes the revolu-
tion was completed. The shrill whistling became a
hum, and soon there was silence.

As before, the sunlight came through the win-
dows from below, diagonally, but from the opposite
side. If a person had not been informed of the
change, he would scarcely have noticed anything.

Thus it was that mankind became anxious and
terrified and considered Korf’s space ship lost.

From hour to hour the activity of the exhausts
was lessened, and the movements of the passengers
of the Geryon became more and more problema-
tical. Walking on the floor had ceased; somer-
saults in the air were the regular procedure; any
movement like a shove resulted in quick motion
sideways or up in the air. It was possible to re-
main on the floor only by extremely careful creep-
ing and holding on to the hand-holds which were
provided everywhere.

On the second day of the trip, weight had sunk
to a thousandth part; accordingly the weight of a
person was only about seventy grams. Sam was
just sitting in the smoking room, when Berger
floated in and joyfully invited him to take part in
the first flight from the ship — a flight in the truest
sense of the word. He felt a bit uncomfortable at
the idea of leaving the protective covering of the
ship and trusting himself to nothingness. But the
enterprise had a great attraction for him, and his
curiosity was greater than his anxiety. Besides, he
had now become so used to weightlessness that un-
pleasant surprises in this respect were hardly to be
feared.

In the central room the rubber suits were all pre-
pared. Korf was already dressed, except that he

still held his helmet in his hand and examined it
carefully.

“The pressure is now so slight,” he explained to
his hesitating brother-in-law, “that we can stay with
the ship out there with an acceleration of only a
centimeter a second. That implies no danger.”

The Space Pedestrians

T HEN he gave a few more instructions and im-
pressed on Sam and Berger, who was also to
take part in this first flight, the necessity of return-
ing to the ship at once, as soon as they felt the
slightest difficulty in breathing. He explained the
use of the telephone wire, which was coiled up and
hung on the breast of the suit. One end of the wire
ran to the inside of the helmet and was attached
to a microphone there. The other end was to be
connected with one of the numerous plugs which
were placed all over the outside of the ship.

“Do not forget,” were Korf’s final words, “to plug
in the wire first of all. Then we can speak to one
another or communicate with the men on board,
and in case of need we can pull ourselves back to
the ship by means of the wires. Let’s go!”

When Korf had convinced himself that the hel-
mets fitted properly, he opened the inner door of the
exit chamber and had Sam and Berger enter. Then
he carefully closed the door and turned an air valve,
through which the air escaped with a whistling
sound. The rubber suits puffed out, so that the
little chamber had scarcely room enough for the
three expansive figures. A turn of Korf’s hand, the
outer door opened, and the three men slipped out
into outer space.

Sam cautiously crept along the smooth steel wall
and looked ior a plug. He had scarcely made the
connection, when he heard Korf’s voice. It seemed
to come from a great distance, though all three of
the companions were within reach of one another.

“Uncle Sam,” said the voice, “do you understand
me? How is your breathing?”

“Perfect! How about Berger?”

“Berger is all right,” the latter announced. Thus
communication was established.

The three figures clasped hands and commenced
their wandering around the ship, while the wires
easily ran out from the coils. If they had not al-
ready been accustomed to weightlessness, the first
heedless step would have carried them far from
the ship. It was only with difficulty that they suc-
ceeded in remaining within reach of the ship.

“What is that?” cried Sam in amazement. “What
has happened to our space ship?” In terror he point-
ed in the direction of the exhaust. The slight mo-
tion had been enough to disturb the equilibrium.
He gently floated away from the ship and slowly
hovered off into space.

“What is the matter?” asked Korf, who also could
no (( l° n g er hold on and was floating off with Berger.

“Well, see how our proud Geryon looks now!”
continued Sam. In his eagerness he did not notice
that he was moving away. “It is as short as a
burned out cigar stub, and two of the wings are
gone !”

Berger snickered. It sounded in the telephone
like a cough. Korf also laughed.

A burned up cigar stub? A splendid guess,
Uncle Sam ! The cigar actually did burn up during

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

59

the ascent. That is to say, we cast off the two
burned out auxiliary rockets.”

In a moment the wire had run out to its full
length, stretched taut, and held the three men like
captive balloons at a distance of thirty meters. The
sunlit helmets and suits gleamed in the absolute
darkness with an unearthly phosphorescence. Day
and night had joined in a seemingly impossible
union.

Geryon. He had a feeling of boundless freedom and
delight. He would have enjoyed shouting aloud,
in spite of his fifty-odd years. It was splendid to see
his covered limbs glitter in the sunlight against the
deep black background of the starry sky.

His ideas of up and down were passing away.
Only a slight pull in the direction of the exhaust
reminded him that there was still a down. Still, but
not for long ! In a few hours they would reach the
limit of gravity. Then the motors would be silent,
and even this last reminder of terrestrial conditions
would vanish.

“Uncle Sam !” sounded Korf’s voice suddenly.
“Look out for the exhausts! The wire does not
reach to the stern of the ship, but it might break.
You might burn your suit in the currents of gas,
which would most seriously imperil your life !”

“I shall look out !” answered Sam, turning around.
He started slightly at not seeing Korf. He had not
thought of the fact that he had telephoned.

Returning into the ship went in the same manner
as leaving it. When they had got into the chamber,
Korf let air come into it from the ship by means pf

It was an indescribable pleasure to examine the earth with
this simple telescope and to view the cities enlarged many
thousand times. It was even possible to make out the
chief buildings.

The ship looked like a gigantic winged egg, a
strange gleaming monster, in its course through
space. At the blunt end a brightly shining white
trail of mist was coming out.

“How do we get back?” asked Sam, after he had
satisfied himself as to the shortening of the Geryon.

“In the pocket of your pneumatic suit you will
find a small repeating pistol,” was the reply. “Shoot
it, and the recoil will put you in motion. You could
also pull yourself back by means of the wire.”

Sam followed this advice, and in a short time he
was back at the ship. Reassured by the success of
the “steering shot”, he began to circle about the

a valve in the inner door, until the pressure was
normal. Then it was easy to open the inner door.
After that the flyers could take off their suits and
exchange experiences and observations without
using the telephone.

“Wonderful !” said Sam. “It wasn’t even cold out
there !”

“The layer of air in the expanded suit is a good
protection against the loss of heat,” agreed Korf,
“and if the suits hold the air long enough, there is
not the least danger. Did you notice at all that our
ship is travelling eighty kilometers every minute?”

“No !” answered Finkle, surprised. “I never had

60

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

the idea- that we were travelling at all and not at
some ether health resort up in space.”

“It is just another case of the old story of the
caterpillar and the electric fan. So far as we are
concerned, the Geryon is standing still, while the
earth moves away and the moon comes nearer. This
only holds good so long as the motion of the ship
remains even and is not too much accelerated me-
chanically. You might just as well not think of it.”

In separate groups the crew was now taken out
and shown the simple tricks and manoeuvers. Like-
wise Suchinow, who was no longer confined, was
given a suit. It was not long before all on board
the ship were accustomed to spend most of their
time out in space, and whoever was not prevented
by his duties climbed around on the wings or sped
around in outer space like birds in the air.

Now Korf set about to make the promised giant
telescope. A shaded concave mirror a meter tall
was fastened by long metal bands several hundred
meters from the ship. The reflections of the mirror
were caught by an eyepiece in the window of the
control room, and the telescope was completed. By
means of a cord the mirror could be moved in all
directions from the eyepiece and could be directed
at any desired points.

It was an indescribable pleasure to examine the
earth with this simple telescope and to view the
cities enlarged many thousand times. It was even
possible to make out the chief buildings. Only the
rotation of the earth carried the focussed points be-
yond the field of vision so rapidly that it took much
practice to be able to follow the motion of the ob-
jects by means of the primitive cord.

The last remnant of gravity vanished, when on
the third day after the start the rocket motors were
entirely shut off. The Geryon had reached that
region in space where the almost imperceptible at-
traction of the earth is equalized by that of the
moon, now rather near. It now obeyed only the
laws of gravitation, like any ordinary celestial body,
and fell with increasing speed toward the moon, the
disk of which now far surpassed the earth in appar-
ent size.

There was absolutely no more of up and down.

Anything not fastened down in the ship floated
freely in the cabins. The men swam in the air,
paddling with their arms and legs, if there was no
wall in reach, to which they could cling. The idea
of going to bed was meaningless : it would actually
have required a great exertion to remain in bed.
They slept, floating in the middle of the room. Sam
floated about, smoking his pipe. The parrot floated
in its cage with folded wings.

Drinking became a test of skill. To empty a
bottle there was only the possibility of sucking out
the liquid, like little children, or of sending out the
contents by rapid turning of it. The liquid then
floated in the room in the form of a sphere, which
had to be caught in the mouth and sucked in.

Chairs and tables were put aside and fastened
down in a corner. The hammocks were rolled up,
and the rope ladders were removed, since they could
no longer be used. A person needed nothing for
comfort but free empty space.

Only the limited operating time of the oxygen
vaporizer in the diving helmet and the necessity
of eating hindered permanent staying outside the

ship. In this state of affairs it is not surprising
that many did not even notice that the mighty
moon, which in the meanwhile had become round,
was rising higher and higher above the central line
of the ship, until it hung laterally above the car-
rousel, stretching out in the sky in a threatening
expanse.

CHAPTER XIX
The Rocket Sighted!

T HE nearer the Geryon came to its goal, the
more restless Suchinow became. The impen-
etrable mask which he always wore fell off,
disclosing the careworn face of a nervous, torment-
ed person. Incessantly he surveyed the surround-
ings of the moon and its masses of “land,” which
were spread out in the sky in the bright sunlight,
constantly increasing in extent as they came nearer.

Waste lands and plateaus cut by wide gullies
were alternated with sharp-edged craters and moun-
tains with jagged cliffs, the dark shadows of which
indicated enormous heights. No woods, no sea, and
no river broke the monotony of the dreadful waste.
From the north pole to the southern edge, as far
as the sunlight reached, there was nothing but bare
ground, looking dried up, and steep mountains. No
lighter patches indicated snow or ice, and not the
tiniest cloud prevented a complete view of the
wrinkled and shrunken countenance of the airless
old satellite.

For fourteen terrestrial days the sun shines unin-
terruptedly upon the bizarre mountains of the
moon, blazing down on the land, and producing a
temperature like that of boiling water. For four-
teen days the dried up waste then sinks into night
and incomprehensible cold. It is no wonder that
one would vainly search this inhospitable compan-
ion of the earth for animal life, to say nothing of
beings like men.

In the northwestern part of the disk there opened
up the ring-shaped mountain of Copernicus, enclos-
ing with several concentric lines of mountains a
wide volcanic crater, the floor of which showed still
more dark openings. The bare crests of this mighty
mountain chain towered more than four thousand
meters above the surface of the moon, casting jag-
ged shadows on the masses of debris close by.

A dark spot within the wide crater caught Suchi-
now’s eye. Was he mistaken, or was the spot really
moving? Now it had reached the edge of the crater
and was creeping away across the mountain chain.
Was it really not a dot on the moon but a body
floating in space between the moon and the Geryon ?

Suchinow could not see clearly. The excitement
of many months was concentrated in this moment.

“The rocket is in sight !” was the cry of the out-
side observer through the telephone.

“The rocket is in sight !” repeated the man posted
in the upper room, loudly, so that it rang through
the ship.

Suchinow clenched his teeth. “Be calm !” he mur-
mured. “It is necessary now !”

In the telescope the long torpedo-shaped rocket,
which had kept the world expectant for almost half
a year, stood out sharply against the bright surface
of the moon. Its course was toward the northwest,
and in a short time the rocket would pass beyond

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

61

the disk of the moon and would disappear behind
it after describing a narrow loop.

Korf went up to Suchinow. “We are close to the
goal, sir!” he said. “Would you like to take part in
the operations?”

“I ask permission to do so!” replied the Russian
with feverish eyes. “In what way do you intend
to reach the rocket?”

“First the speed of the Geryon must be increased
to that of your rocket. This is already being at-
tended to. The ship is being attracted by the moon
and diverted in its path. Now it is describing the
curve of a narrow Kepler gravitational parabola,
with the moon at the focus, and is coming constant-
ly closer to it. At the same time our speed is being
constantly accelerated by the free fall.”

“The distance of the rocket from the surface of
the moon seems to be not quite eight hundred kilo-
meters. Accordingly the distance from the centre
of the moon may be assumed to be about two thou-
sand five hundred kilometers. It is possible to let
the Geryon gravitate around the moon in the same
orbit?”

“Absolutely ! But we have not as yet the neces-
sary speed to catch up with the rocket. I regard
it as surer to approach as close as possible to the
moon, to attain the utmost possible speed.”

“And then?”

“Then we shall pass close by the surface of the
moon and draw away from it again, until we strike
the path of the rocket behind the moon. But then
we shall certainly have a higher speed than that of
the rocket, which can be braked at the right mo-
ment by proper use of the exhausts. It will of
course not be easy to approach the little rocket in
the great Geryon, but in any case it is better to have
too much speed than too little.”

“Wouldn’t it be simpler,” put in the Russian, “to
stop the Geryon in front of the moon by means of
countershots, in order to wait for the rocket right
there ?”

"That might be so. But in this case we should
have to wait until the rocket completed its course
about the moon. Besides that, it would require the
expenditure of an almost unattainable amount of
energy, first to stop the Geryon entirely, then to
hold it motionless in spite of the attraction of the
moon, and then again to accelerate it in the path
of the rocket, which we unfortunately cannot influ-
ence. And without absolute equality of speeds
coupling on the rocket is simply out of the ques-
tion.”

Back to Gravity

K ORF gave orders to call all the men on board
and to make the Geryon all ready to manoeuver.
He personally convinced himself that the rocket
chambers, the gas chambers, and the gyroscopes
were all ready, and then he returned to the carrou-
sel. At this moment he was only the technician
and commander to whom a dangerous and difficult
problem had been given, the solution of which de-
manded all his thoughts. Thus he did not notice
how Suchinow watched the manoeuvers, pale with
excitement and in feverish tension.

"All right !” came through the speaking tube from
the engine room.

“Take charge of the gyroscopes, Berger! Keep

the main exhaust directed straight at the centre of
the moon !”

The driving wheels began to sing, the ship slowly
turned on its short axis, and the moon apparently
sank down until it spread out directly below the
carrousel. The Geryon was now rushing through
space, with one wing forward.

Korf kept his eye on the scales which showed the
position of the compasses.

"At present our course indicates five degrees to
the east of the moon. But see, the direction is grad-
ually changing more and more toward the moon.”

The moon came nearer with uncanny speed. Each
individual mountain top could already be made Out
with the naked eye, arid the yellowish landscape
reached out of sight in all directions below the
Geryon, looking like a waste of clay and stone.
Since the vertical axis of the ship was pointed
straight at the moon, while the course was obliquely
inclined, the masses of the moon seemed not only
to rise from the depths but also to come up side-
ways. This produced the impression that the gigan-
tic moon was rolling upon the Geryon. The nearer
the ship came, the more strongly this rotary mo-
tion affected the observers, who had to look away at
times, to avoid becoming dizzy at the sight of the
approaching land.

The rocket could no longer be seen from the
carrousel; it had already entered the shadow of
the moon.

“If we are lucky,” remarked Korf, without taking
his eyes from the compass scales, “then we shall
succeed in cutting the path of the rocket so that we
shall catch up with it behind the moon. — Isn’t that
so?” He stopped speaking, cast a glance at the
plan of the flight curves, and said to himself, “The
prearranged course does not quite suit!”

The course ran close by the moon ; it even brush-
ed the solid ground.

“If the exhaust fails now, we shall plunge help-
lessly upon the moon!” he exclaimed. His hand
grasped the gas lever.

The ship gave a leap. With a crash chairs and
tables overturned to the floor. There was a crash
of broken dishes in the kitchen.

Dr. Finkle, startled out of his nap, rushed into
the control room.

“For Heaven’s sake, what is wrong?”

Korf did not answer. He was testing the course
of the ship.

“It is all right !” said he, drawing a breath of re-
lief. “We shall pass the moon one hundred kilo-
meters away! Since we have no atmosphere to go
through, there is nothing more to fear at present.”

He called into the speaking tube : “Have the ship
examined, Berger, to see whether anything has hap-
pened.”

Korf ran his hand through his hair. “We have
won the first trick!” he remarked, while he slowly
pushed the gas lever back to zero. “You got a
good scare, Uncle Sam, didn’t you?”

“Oh, not too much. But what happened? Why
did everything fall to the floor all at once ?”

“I had no time,” replied the commander, “to give
any warning to those on board. I hope nobody
was seriously hurt.”

“Probably there was some broken glass and a few
black and blue places. How was it that weight

aflBBK

Five streams of fire shot into space with tremendous violence. They cast the ship up-
ward, the plaything of cosmic forces. The surface of the moon sinks down. In this
moment not a breath rises or falls, not a heart beats.

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

63

all at once came back and took us out of all the
clouds without any gradual transition ?"

“ ‘Clouds’ is good !” said Korf, laughing. “You
must mean the smoke clouds in which you are ac-
customed to bathe. Anyway, it is all over, and this
impulse of weight was only a fraction of our normal
weight on earth. We simply got unaccustomed to
it out in space and lost the use of our organs of
locomotion.”

“Won’t you finally . . .

“Oh, yes !” put in Korf quickly. "Just see how
close we are to the old moon ! What is more natural
than our getting to feel its influence ?”

"But why so suddenly and intensely?”

“I let the auxiliary exhausts work for thirty sec-
onds at half power, to correct our course. That is
all. I seem to have made a slight error in my calcu-
lations beforehand.”

“And now?”

“We are falling around the moon, close to it.
Have your camera ready. You will be able to take
home such landscapes as no traveller on earth has
in his snapshot album.”

Berger's entrance interrupted the conversation.
“Two men are in their cabins, taken with space
sickness,” he reported. “Otherwise everything is
all right, except for a few broken glasses.”

“Presumably they both stood on their heads at
the moment of impulse,” said Sam, going to see
about the invalids.

Korf turned to Berger. “Have everything tied
on that is not riveted on, and warn the crew about
more surprises. If possible, have everyone in the
hammocks. It is very possible that we shall have
to change course several times more.”

Meanwhile the surface of the moon had turned
further. It was awe-inspiring to see the mountains
increase in size and roll by at an uncanny speed.
New strips of land kept rising up and passing by at
the side. Each chain of mountains seemed about to
catch up with and overwhelm the one before. Only
men completely free from dizziness could bear to
keep watching the grandiose sight of the appar-
ently moving masses.

Sam reappeared. “The sick men will be all right.
As soon as their stomachs are empty, they can walk
again. You must keep food out of reach ! The
men are eating too much and moving about too
little.”

A Narrow Escape

S UCHINOW stood motionless at the window
and stared down. The green dots on his pale
face stood out unpleasantly.

“Soon we shall have below us regions of the
moon never yet seen by the eye of man !” he said.
Then, after a while, he added, “Except Skoryna!”
Sam was lying on his stomach in the hammock,
as he always did when observing the “world below”.
“Gus,” he called out anxiously, "how high are we
above this nutmeg-grater down there?”

Korf smiled at this peculiar but rather apt com-
parison. “Just a thousand kilometers, Uncle Sam!
We shall descend to about one hundred kilometers
and then go upward again. If the moon had an
atmosphere, we might feel some heat during this
speedy passage.”

The rotation of the "nutmeg-grater” became
slower and then became an even lateral advance.
In the distance mountains appeared on the horizon,
moved on, and disappeared in the other direction at
the edge of the moon. It was a quickly changing
panorama. Gradually the sunlight became weaker.
Dense darkness had long been in the deep craters.
Only the summits of the mountains now emerged
brightly from the twilight. They were nearing the
border-line between day and night.

“It is becoming evening down there !” said Korf.
“For the region over which we are just flying, the
long lunar day is drawing to a close.”

He viewed the surface of the moon, then turned
to the compasses, turned to the optical distance
measurer, and again observed the speeding land-
scapes. There was evident anxiety on his face.

“What is the matter?” asked Sam.

“It is remarkable! We have passed the point
where we should be nearest the moon and we now
should be rising!”

“Well?”

“The distance from the moon is again lessening.
It is unexplainable ! Let us wait a moment !”

Slowly, to be sure, but perceptibly they were
again nearing the moon. The mountain peaks, ris-
ing from the twilight and gleaming in the sunlight,
flew past more quickly, a sure sign that they had
come nearer.

Anxiously and hastily Korf examined the instru-
ments. "I can’t understand !” he murmured, and
his glances wandered undecided between the scales
and the great mass of the moon.

In fact merely looking out already aroused the
sensation of falling. In the direction of the flight
immense dark mountains were towering up on the
horizon. The Geryon was flying toward them, one
wing ahead, in its mad course. The increasing
darkness added to the dreadful sight.

Then Suchinow sprang up. “Can my suspicion
. . .” He did not finish the sentence.

A leap like a tiger — a grasp of the hand — and
the gas lever went up to its full extent.

Full gas to all the exhausts!

Korf seized his arm, too late !

A frightful shock hurls everything down. The
acceleration indicator raced up the scale, going far,
far beyond the red line.

Five streams of fire shoot into space, with tre-
mendous violence ! They cast the ship upward, the
plaything of cosmic forces! The surface of the
moon sinks down. Suchinow lies on the floor, like
a crushed worm !

In this moment not a breast rises and falls— not
a heart beats.

Korf has clung to the switchboard, clinging to it
with a superhuman exertion. Lights dance before
his eyes, and a glowing millstone presses down on
him, crushing his bones.

Between moving blue veils he sees the gas lever.
He seizes it with his teeth and pulls it back. Then
he sinks down, while the pressure falls.

The tops of the mountains rush past below, al-
most within reach. The twofold danger is over.

Glassy eyes seem to ask what returning conscious-
ness does not yet understand: What happened?

Within the ship there was a devastated look. The
tremendous recoil had hurled everything to the

64

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

floor and smashed such things as were not in some
way fastened. The frightful pressure had lasted
only two seconds, but that had been long enough to
crack chairs and flatten fruit tins.

Panting, Korf slowly picked himself up.

“That was very close to death 1” he uttered pain-
fully. “I thank you, sir, for your quick action. In
a few seconds more our ship would have been
smashed against the moon.”

Suchinow looked about in confusion. Several
minutes passed before he could speak. “Yet I should
have been a murderer, if you had not taken a hand 1
Pardon my folly ! I never dreamed that the Geryon
could develop seventy meters a second accelera-
tion.”

“It was necessary! Only this risk could have
saved us. Of course, if the fearful pressure had
lasted even ten seconds, none of us would ever have
seen the earth again 1”

The half-stunned crew again recovered and at
once set out to investigate the devastation in the
ship. The hull of the ship itself had had no injury.
It was built to stand the most extreme pressure.
Likewise the apparatus and instruments, being
placed on springs, had remained undamaged. The
damage to the furniture could be repaired after a
fashion.

“I confess,” said Korf, turning again to the Rus-
sian, “I am not quite certain about the cause of this
deviation 1”

“The Geryon did not deviate from its course. I
am convinced that this second approach toward
the surface of the moon has a reason outside the
ship.”

“In the moon itself, then?”

“Yes! An idea which often used to take up my
mind was the question why the moon does not
rotate but always presents the same side to the
earth. Now my suspicion has been confirmed. The
moon, is not a sphere but an ellipsoid, flattened on
the side toward the earth. It is a body somewhat
like an egg, with the long axis always pointed to-
ward the earth. The tips, accordingly, have never
been directly recognized by any earthly astronomer.
If you now assume that the Geryon first passed by
the bright central belt in its course, afterward going
by the shaded rear protuberance, which is unluckily
also provided with very high mountains, then all
the events of the last few minutes are absolutely
explained.”

“You may be right,” said Korf thoughtfully.
“Your hypothesis fits in all respects. This egg-
shaped moon must necessarily always turn the
heavier side, therefore the which is flattest
toward the centre of attraction, the earth. Accord-
ingly it appears circular to the observers on earth.”

“I hope that we shall pass the side of the moon
on the return trip at a corresponding distance ; then
we shall recognize its circumference and find my
hypothesis directly confirmed,” added Suchinow.
Then he sank again into his usual silence.

CHAPTER XX
Uncertain Hours

I T had also become dark in the Geryon, and abso-
lute night lay about the ship. The sun had van-
ished behind the moon. The earth, which (like
the moon, under normal conditions) might have

given some reflected light, was for the present hid-
den by the dark masses of the near-by satellite.

With increased speed the space ship sped through
the shadow of the moon, away from its surface,
which in the darkness could not be seen. The un-
wonted darkness, together with the after effects of
the shock they had just undergone, made the occu-
pants sleepy. And when the exhausts began to
operate again weakly, to force the ship into the
path of the rocket, the pressure also made itself
very unpleasantly noticeable. Even though it did
not reach the normal terrestrial gravity, the pas-
sengers of the Geryon had become unused to weight.
Just as during the ascent, it seemed as though there
were lead in all their limbs. A dull pressure in
their heads enfeebled their thinking, and unconquer-
able weariness fell upon the crew.

Soon all were in a heavy sleep bordering on a
stupor. Suchinow, Berger, and Korf struggled with
all their might against this exhaustion. In any case
they had to avoid letting the Geryon pass uncon-
trolled by the orbit of the rocket, which would de-
lay the rescue of Skoryna for days.

The ship had now been so turned that it raced
through space with the exhaust-end first. Conse-
quently the currents of gas exercised a braking
effect. It was accordingly a question of changing
the parabolic course of the ship to a circle by slow
decreasing of the speed.

Berger was just nodding, when Korf’s words
startled him: “The moon is seven hundred kilo-
meters below us. The height above the land is in-
creasing only very slowly. I hope that we can
soon let it gravitate freely.”

A fine yellowish light was falling into the car-
rousel. The earth was rising behind the moon and
spreading out its gigantic crescent, four times as
large as the crescent of the moon which is reflected
on clear nights in the waves of Lake Constance.

After a while Korf depressed the gas lever. The
space ship was now floating about eight hundred
kilometers above the mountains of the moon and
was increasing this distance only very gradually.
Its course was considerably curved about the moon,
indeed not yet circular; but a further lessening of
speed would have decidedly increased the difficulty
of catching up with the rocket.

“For finer corrections,” remarked Korf to Suchi-
now, “we must wait until we see the rocket. For
the moment there is nothing to do but let the Geryon
gravitate freely in an ellipse which is not much
different from the circular path of the rocket.”

Since the ship was again completely given over to
the free play of natural forces, the pressure sank
and absolute weightlessness was restored. The
awaking sleepers found themselves and their rest-
ing places floating again in their cabins.

Soon after that the first sunbeam came through
the windows. Far below the edge of the moon was
lighting up strongly, and the spectacle of the awak-
ing earth was repeated on the moon. But the flares
of a corona, which had encircled the rising cres-
cent of the earth, were absent because of the lack
of an atmosphere. There were now two brilliant
crescents floating below the ship, the earth and the
moon. For the moment the moon, being nearer,
had the upperhand in its fantastic size.

The crew became quickly gay, now that the pres-

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

65

sure had disappeared and weariness had gone, like
the oppression of a bad dream.

“The sun seems to have gone crazy !” was Sam’s
criticism, as he was sitting at coffee with Korf and
Berger. More exactly, he was floating around the
casino chasing the brown globes of liquid. “When
we were first fortunate enough to see it, it was
down below. When we were hurrying to the moon,
to scrape by it, it shone into the carrousel splendid-
ly. Now it is squinting in at the side again, in a
shamefaced manner. I should not have thought the
centre of our system capable of such leaps. And
the worst of all is that Mother Earth, whom I al-
ways considered a steady reliable lady of mature
years, has become infected with these extrava-
gances. Not to mention the moon, for this old
chap is going his own way and is even bold enough
to approach our earth!”

“You seem to be in a good humor, Uncle Sam!”
remarked Korf. “It is not so very long since a cer-
tain person sneaked off to his cabin, very de-
pressed !”

Sam grinned. “I cannot stand that accursed
weight any more. I am all for the freedom and
independence of space !”

“But how will it be when we return home and
Dr. Finkle again weighs his hundred and thirty
pounds and his fifty-six years begin to assert them-
selves once more?”

“Keep still, Gus! I beg of you! It worries me
when I think of it. But there are a few days more
before that.”

“Do you think so, Uncle Sam? We now are on a
course which would take us to the earth in twenty
hours. We could also have more acceleration, once
we pass the neutral zone and use the attraction of
the earth.”

This outlook seemed to afford Uncle Sam only a
moderate degree of pleasure.

“When we have the rocket,” he remarked, “there
will be no great hurry about returning. Couldn’t
we take a little excursion to Mars?”

“Has the earth become too small for your taste
for wandering? Yet how you hesitated to come on
this trip!”

“That is explained by the inertia of matter, Gus.
When I am sitting, I sit tight and I am hard to get
to rise. When I wander, I remain wandering until
some compelling circumstance stops me. As a phy-
sicist and master of gravitation, you must perceive
this!”

The Rocket Captured!

S UCHINOW was sitting at the lookout, search-
ing for the rocket. By using proper braking and
directional shots, it had been possible to keep the
Geryon about nine hundred kilometers from the
surface of the moon and to force it into an elliptical
path which for a long distance was the same as the
orbit of the rocket. Since the Geryon had now a
considerably higher speed than the rocket, the latter
would certainly be overtaken, sooner or later.

Suchinow gazed eagerly in the direction of flight
and soon saw, at the side of the moon, the bright
point he had sought. It seemed to be coming near-
er. He at once informed Korf.

“We have been fortunate,” he cried in a voice
hoarse with emotion. “The rocket is gravitating

parallel with us a slight distance away.”

A fleeting flush of pleasure was on Korf's face, as
he now adjusted the telescope in the upper lookout
and now plainly recognized the shape of the shining
torpedo.

“Very well,” said he, “the difference in our speedsi
is no longer very great and oan be equalized. How
long is your machine?”

“Eight and a half meters !”

“Eight and a half meters,” repeated Korf, “with a
visual angle of sixteen seconds! That corresponds
to a distance of ... of somewhat over a hundred
kilometers,” he went on, after a brief calculation.
“That is still too far !”

Nearer and nearer came the rocket. They could
already recognize the slim cylindrical shape without
using the telescope. Korf moved the gas lever.
“We must put on the brakes a bit more, or else we
shall shoot past it!”

Suchinow operated the measurer of distance, his
hand trembling on the screw.

The distance of the torpedo lessened to just three
kilometers. Then the drawing closer stopped. The
courses were now exactly parallel, both the Geryon
and the rocket gravitating freely about the moon in
concentric orbits.

“We might of course come a bit closer,” said Korf
to Berger, “but it would be dangerous. We cannot
stop the rocket, and the great Geryon cannot man-
oeuver quickly enough to be certain of avoiding a
collision. Now get over there quickly, before the
distance again increases.”

A wave of excitement swept through the crew.
The great moment had arrived, the moment which
the world had awaited for months in anxious im-
patience.

Since the space ship, with exhausts cut off, was
circling freely in space like any ordinary meteor,
with no artificial influence to disturb the play of
natural forces, the proximity of the moon was no
hindrance to leaving the ship.

Kinetic energy and the attraction of the moon
determined the motion of the Geryon and forced it
into the curved gravitational path — the same forces
as operated on the passengers and sought to move
them in the same manner. As long as no artificial
influence disturbed the dynamic equilibrium, no
force drew the men who left the Geryon away from
the ship, any more than the walking stick of a
man falling from a high mountain has any inclina-
tion to leave its possessor during the fall. It re-
mains at an unchanged distance from him, as long
as the free fall lasts.

The rocket and the Geryon seemed to fie still side
by side, just like two express trains running side
by side at full speed. A passenger on one express
can shake hands out of the window with a pas-
senger on the other. He can bridge the gap be-
tween the two trains with a board and pass from
one train to the other. Nothing but the current of
air, the road bed rushing away behind, and the noise
of the rolling wheels would remind him that the
whole system is in motion. Relatively to the rocket,
the Geryon was motionless, and relatively to the
Geryon, the passengers leaving it would float mo-
tionless in space.

Korf remained on board as commander, to be able

66

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

to correct at once any deviations in course which
might arise during the expedition.

“Who is to attend to the coupling-on of the
rocket?” asked the Russian hastily.

“Berger and two men. But if you would like to
take part, there is nothing to prevent it. Only you
must not lose any time in preparing.”

Half a minute later the four men were already
slipping through the chamber into space. Instead
of telephone wires they had coils wound with long
thin wire, the ends of which were fastened to the
ship. Besides that, each was provided with a pistol
and sufficient blank cartridges to keep their course
to the torpedo by means of shots and in case of
need to return quickly like little living rockets.

Scarcely had they reached the side of the Geryon
which faced the torpedo, when Suchinow slowly
bent his knees, touched the steel wall with his
fingers, and eyed the course like a sprinter about to
start. With all his might he sped off, with Berger
and the two sailors following immediately. Quickly
the four figures, puffed out like balloons and shining
in the sunbeams, became smaller and smaller and
finally shrunk to shiny floating dots in the black
sky.

After five minutes Korf saw through the telescope
how they braked their flight with a few counter-
shots, reached the rocket, and fastened the wires.
The first connection, a loose one, was established.
One of the four, apparently Suchinow, was con-
stantly circling about the tip of the torpedo, as
though trying to view the interior through the
windows.

“I wonder whether he is still alive!” murmured
Sam, who was watching beside Korf and keeping
his eye on him with a care that showed his paternal
affection and also a certain anxiety.

"Why ask a question just now, which has already,
God knows, cost me enough sleepless nights?” re-
plied Korf in an effort to overcome his impatience.
“In a short time we shall know the truth.”

The Rocket Opened

M EANWHILE the great cable-drum had been
taken outside and screwed on to the ship. A
sailor unwound the cable and fastened the end of the
wires leading to the rocket Drawn from the other
end, it wriggled through space like a glittering
snake. Breaking of the wires was not to be feared,
since weightlessness prevented any resistance. The
sailor at the drum only took care that the cable ran
out easily ' and without kinks. Slowly the cable
crawled over to the rocket and was there cast around
the steel hull and tied fast. The flash of a light-sig-
nal, sent by a pocket mirror, showed the observers
in the Geryon that the fish was caught. The cable
was wound up, became taut, and floated the mass
of the rocket along slowly.

It came into view, a narrow steel cylinder about
three meters in diameter. In front it was pointed and
provided with windows all around the end. In back
it had four great fins which during the flight through
the atmosphere had served as stabilizing surfaces.

Korf ordered Berger to take charge of the controls
and went out with Sam. There it lay, the mysterious
body which had been shot into infinity months before
— now captured and confined — conquered ! It was

only a dark wart on the immense hull of the Geryon.

But what of Skoryna?

No one said the question aloud. The windows of the
rocket had become frosted on the inside and were no
longer transparent. Nothing moved in the lifeless steel
sheik Within arm’s length was the poor tortured per-
son — whether alive or dead — for who could tell? At
present he was still out of reach in his dungeon.

Korf examined the circular door, which was just
large enough to admit a person headfirst.

“The door is indeed fastened from within,” said
Suchinow, who immediately on returning had con-
nected up with the telephone system of the Geryon.
“Still it should be easy to break open. But how? If
the air within escapes, he will at once be killed, since
he has no pneumatic covering. If he still is . . . .”

He did not complete the sentence. He again kept
trying to look through the frosted windows.

“The simplest thing would be to take the whole
rocket inside the Geryon ” replied Korf, “but our en-
trance chamber is too small for that. There is nothing
to do but fasten on an air container, to make the double
doors necessary for entering. Be patient a little while
longer !”

He immediately made the necessary arrangements.
He had foreseen this difficulty and had taken along the
proper equipment. An airtight metal pipe, just big
enough to hold a man, having a pneumatic door at the
end, was welded on to the rocket. This was done in
such a way that the door of the rocket was inside
the pipe. Then a mechanic crept in, carrying tools
and an extra rubber suit. Behind him the outer door
of the pipe was secnrely fastened. It was no easy
task for the man, working in the narrow space, but
weightlessness made it less difficult for him. Soon
the inner door of the rocket lay open.

CHAPTER XXI
The Yogi

S CARCELY was the body of Skoryna, unrecogniz-
able in the rubber suit, safely within the ship,
when the order sounded through the telephone,
“Everybody on board !”

It was high time to start the exhausts, in order to
retain and make use of the present favorable course to
the earth and to avoid being carried around the moon
again. A slight downward pull showed that tech-
nical means were again at work, carrying the ship
away in opposition to the gravity of the moon, to-
ward the earth, homeward.

Skoryna had been carried to Suchinow’s cabin and
given over to the doctor’s care. Korf was for the time
being so occupied with his navigation that he had no
time to think of the person rescued. At the equilibrium
point between the moon and the earth, which he
hoped to reach in a few hours, he intended to con-
tinue the work on the rocket. It was to be welded
fast to the surface of the Geryon, to prevent break-
ing loose in landing.

As for the rescued one, was he really saved or was
he dead ? Had help come too late ?

Sam appeared in the control room, pale, trembling
in all his limbs, depressed, as though he had some
dreadful news to report. An anxious suspicion seized
Korf. “Is he dead, Uncle Sam?” he asked hesitat-
ingly.

“His heart still beats,” replied the old doctor shyly,
“but it is a wonder that he still lives. It is the strangest

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

67

in his fingers. If Skoryna had no longer fulfilled
this important duty, there was no doubt that he had
been unable to do so.

Sam prevented his reading
the book at the moment. “Wait
a little longer!” he said. “You
can make an exact study of it
later. First let me finish my
report. Skoryna is reduced to
skin and bones, the image of a
corpse. Yet he breathes, weak-
ly but perceptibly. His body is
not in any way injured. Meat
broth carefully given will per-
haps bring him back again to
life and consciousness. I also
have a valuable ally in the ab-
sence of weight.”

“Do your best. Uncle Sam.

phenomenon which I ever
saw in all my practice.” He
stopped speaking, as though
seeking for words.

“He is still alive?” cried
Korf, and a burden fell from
his heart. “God be thanked
that we did not come too
late!”

“I should not like to say
so definitely as yet! He is
in a dreadful condition.”

“Speak up, Uncle Sam!”
insisted Korf. “How is he?
Is he — has he lost his
son ?"

“A kindly fate has saved
him from the worst
madness. No, it is not

After a short pause, dur-
ing which Korf’s eyes never
left his face, he went

There were now two
crescents floating below the
ship, the earth and the moon.
The moon being

“Can you imagine a person lying unconscious for
three months, without taking any nourishment, and
still living? Living? Being alive now?”

Korf passed his hand over his forehead. “Did you
say three months. Uncle Sam ?”

“The ship’s log proves it The last entry is on Nov-
ember 21st, a few days after he sent the call for help
to the earth. Then his strength, not merely physical
strength but rather the strength of will and hope, seems
to have left him. It was well for him to sink into
unconsciousness, to think no more, hope no more, have
nothing more to fear. It was well for him, and I hope
it saved him. It spared him the last result, despairing
of help there in the frightful loneliness.”

Korf seized the little notebook which contained Skor-
yna’s hastily written daily notes — the log book which
every ship’s commander fills out with painful exact-
ness, as long as he has the strength to hold a pencif

You must succeed in saving the life of this pioneer
of spatial travel.”

“Nothing shall be overlooked,” murmured Sam
anxiously, as though he still had something on his
mind. To gain time, he then said, “Have you ever
heard that a human body could endure that? Three
months without food ! In India there are actually
said to be fanatical Buddhists who let themselves
be buried alive, to rise again years later as famous
yogis. I always thought that fabulous. I travelled
long enough in Bombay and on the Ganges, but I
never saw a yogi who did not prove, on closer view,
to be a clever trickster. But haven’t we found a
real yogi in Skoryna? I have tested it with the
most varied theories. The weightlessness of gravi-
tating bodies, the extreme cold in the rocket, the in-
contestable fact that with low temperatures albumi-
nous cells have a prolonged life — perhaps all this

68

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

can and even must have led to a preserving of the
body. But these are only superficial hypotheses,
and the exact investigation of this riddle shall be
the task of my later years.”

“The main thing, to be sure, is that Skoryna is
alive,” remarked Korf. “Why and how are for the
moment minor details 1”

“For the moment, yes! But this question will
allow me as a doctor just as little rest as the prob-
lem of the space ship has for many years in your
own case.”

“Can I see Skoryna?” asked Korf suddenly.

Sam appeared startled. In evident embarrass-
ment he tried to evade the question. “Wait until
Skoryna is stronger. You might be terrified at the
deathly face, which hardly suggests a beating
heart.”

Korf was struck by this almost unmotivated pre-
text. “I am not so easily terrified. Uncle Sam !” He
did not hide his amazement. Finkle turned to an-
other subject. His embarrassment was actually
surprisingly evident.

“What do you think about Suchinow ? Have you
really considered why he sneaked into your ship
and in this way compelled his participation in the
rescue trip?”

“Why this discussion? It is natural enough for
him to have the greatest possible interest in the
salvage of his hapless machine.”

“Not merely the machine but rather the pas-
senger !”

“Well? Isn’t that a human feeling?”

“I believe I see through the riddle. Suchinow is
— Skoryna’s father.”

Korf looked up in surprise. “To be sure! But
why has he kept so still about it? He had no rea-
son to conceal that he is the father of a clever and
admirably bold young man.”

“Well, so far as I know, Suchinow has no son.”

An angry flush mounted to Korf’s face. “What
do you mean by this confused introduction?” he
cried to his brother-in-law, who, it was evident,
was keeping something back.

Sam bent his head and wiped the sweat from his
brow.

“One more question, Gus! What do you think
about Natalka?”

Korf straightened up and his eyes flashed threat-
eningly. “You know more than you say ! My word
binds my lips. I have, for the sake of Skoryna,
promised to keep silent about Natalka. But you
truly make it hard for me to keep my promise.
Speak or be silent ! One of the two ! But stop giv-
ing these confused hints!”

“Gus, you gave me your word, and you have kept
it. You have never since then spoken about Na-
talka. But did you also promise never to speak
with Natalka?”

“What do you mean ?” cried Korf, staring at Sam
as though at a ghost.

“You will, I hope, soon be able to speak with
Natalka. She is in the cabin of Suchinow, her
father.”

Korf fell back as though thunderstruck. “I
guessed,” he groaned, after an anxious pause, "that
Natalka was connected with Suchinow. But it
never came to my mind that it was she for whom
I was making my rescue expedition.”

“I have been sure of it only for half an hour !” re-
plied Sam timidly.

“Go! Go! Leave me alone!” exclaimed Korf
roughly. Finkle withdrew, his mission finished.

Skoryna’s Diary

F OR a long time Korf sat motionless, his head
in his hands and his arms resting on his knees.
The scales fell from his eyes; the foundations of
the world seemed to totter. All was now clear.
She had come to him as a spy, to listen to his ideas,
to copy his invention, to steal his intellectual pos-
session in a common tricky way ! And this woman
had been dear to him; he had loved this woman
with all his heart and had trusted this sneaking
traitoress unsuspectingly with his secret. A sob
escaped him.

Probably — no, certainly — she herself had set fire
to his laboratory, to conceal the traces of her theft.
And the attempted rescue, the burned hair and
clothes, had been a mere comedy, the trick of an
actress, to lull the simple German to sleep ! And
then she went to Berlin. Yes, it all agreed won-
derfully! This Mertens with the drugstore was
put forward to keep him from following her; the
supply of letters had been written to keep him
quiet !

And what of himself? He had believed every-
thing, taking everything for genuine, until Sam at
Mother Barbara’s had instilled the first doubt. A
dreadful anger seized him, anger at the woman
whom he had loved. He felt anger at Sam, who
had knowledge of this network of deceit and had
hidden the truth from him until this hour ; anger at
himself, for letting himself be fooled; anger even
at his ship, which had been built with the money
of this scoundrel on whose errand Natalka had de-
ceived him. And Suchinow?

This green-spotted scamp had even been so bold
as to sneak aboard the Geryon, to use this construc-
tion also at the earliest opportunity and to pass it
off as his own work. The stupid German neither
hears nor sees anything, and one may take all sorts
of liberties with him.

A hoarse laugh came from his throat, sounding
as shrill as the note of a cracked bell.

“You shall yet find out what I am, the whole
crowd of you!” muttered Korf between his teeth.
The characteristic Teutonic rage blazed from his
wide open eyes.

He hoarsely called for Berger and gave him the
charge of the ship until further notice. Then he
locked himself up in his cabin.

The examination of Skoryna’s log book distracted
his gloomy thoughts. His eye at first passed mechan-
ically over the firmly written lines, which he still
had in mind from the letters. Then technical
interest awoke in him, and with increasing atten-
tion he went over the clear account of the mad
flight. The cosmic and technical phenomena were
judged with admirable accuracy, and the appended
tables giving the readings of the measuring devices
provided valuable scientific material.

The notes began on the eighth of September, the
day after the start.

.... “I do not know what is the matter with me.
My forehead is all sweat, and my hair sticks to my
face. Where ami?”...

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

69

.... “I must have been unconscious. I lost my
senses in the frightful heat.”. . . .

Korf found his suspicion confirmed. During the
rapid ascent through the atmosphere the rocket had
been overheated. If in the Geryon, starting rela-
tively slowly and provided with good cooling appa-
ratus, the heat of friction had been oppressive, how
must it have seemed in the tiny rocket as it sped
along 1 There was also an explanation of the failure
of the lighting system:

.... “At last I have found the disturbance in
the electrical system. The lead plates of the stor-
age batteries bent because of the high temperature
during the ascent, causing a short-circuit.” . . . .

Then followed descriptions of the earth rising in
the sunlight, observations regarding the diminish-
ing gravity, and determinations of position by tak-
ing the height of the stars.

.... “I can no longer be mistaken in seeing that
the speed calculated has not been attained. Perhaps
the machine would have had a higher degree of effi-
ciency by using several exhausts instead of one.”

Korf felt confused. Had Suchinow then failed to
use this simple and decidedly best construction of
the powder-rocket? In excitement he read further.

.... “I cannot pass the limit of the earth’s grav-
ity without using considerably more acceleration
shots than were calculated. Can I venture to use
up the reserves to such an extent?” ....

.... “The thermometers indicate eight degrees
below zero; at this temperature there seems to be
an equilibrium between the access of heat from
the sun and the radiation into space.” ....

.... "I have now circled about the moon just
eight hundred kilometers from the surface. My
course is a closed ellipse. Without using tremend-
ous amounts of energy I cannot reach the limit of
gravity. What shall I do now?” ....

.... “For the third time I am going around the
moon. My father was right; the moon is not a
sphere but a pear-shaped body. — The solitude is
intolerable, and the absolute silence rings in my
ears like the roar of the Danube. — I cannot make
up my mind to return to the earth; the remnant
of energy cartridges would not be enough to hinder
the free fall, and death would be certain.” ....

What dreadful torments Skoryna must have un-
dergone! The only alternatives were to seek a
quick death by plunging through space to the earth
or gradually to fall a victim to madness, there in
solitude !

.... “Has anyone on earth seen my light-sig-
nals? Great Heavens, what if no one is able to
bring me aid! Who is there to rescue me? My
father? In a second rocket he will meet the same
fate that has come to me. The amount of fuel
which may be carried is slight. The only person
for whom I hope is Korf. But how long will it be
before he constructs his new invention? If I were
certain that Korf is coming, if only a single word
could reach me from the earth, then it would be
easy to wait. But doubt, this fearful doubt of the
possibility of my rescue from my prison is crush-
ing me!” ....

The following notes became more and more scan-

ty, and the illegible handwriting suggested a weak-
ening of strength.

.... Shall I not rather bring about the sure
end? Better a horrible end than an endless horror!
Is my mind becoming a blank page ?”....

.... “I am getting tired. I talk with myself, to
hear a human voice, and then the sound of my voice
terrifies me.” ....

.... “God in Heaven — if there is a God — pro-
tect me from madness!” ....

An absolutely illegible scrawl followed as the
last entry. Doubtless the pencil had then slipped
from the limp fingers.

Korf was utterly confused, as he laid the log book
aside. The most contradictory feelings were surg-
ing within him. This woman had been terribly
tried. The most refined torturer of the middle ages
could not have devised these torments which Natal-
ka had had to endure, in absolute solitude, in empty
space.

He could not refuse her his pity and his respect.
Still, she had betrayed him and lied to him. She
had abused his confidence and trampled his heart
under foot! In his mind there yawned a deep gulf,
which seemed to him not to be bridged and which
pained him infinitely.

Sam knocked. “Gus!” he cried, when he found
the door locked.

“I wish to be alone !” said Korf harshly.

“Natalka has awakened. Won’t you see her?
She is asking for you.”

For a while there was silence in the cabin. Korf
was passing through a terrible combat with himself.
This struggle lasted for whole minutes. Then the
door opened.

“All right, I’ll come !” he cried hoarsely.

Then he silently followed his brother-in-law to
the bedside of this woman, whom he loved with the
constancy of a man of thirty, whom he hated with
the anger of an honorable man who has been shame-
fully cheated, and whom he admired as a martyr.

CHAPTER XXII
Natalka

I N the corridor Suchinow sneaked past. Korf
looked through the man as though through
glass.

Natalka was alone in the cabin when Korf and
Finkle entered. Pale as a ghost, she was floating
upon the bed, just held fast a little by the slight
weight. She scarcely breathed, and her eyes were
closed. Her glistening short black hair contrasted
strangely with the sunken white face. Now and
again a faint flush, coming and going like a shadow,
colored her cheeks and testified that life had re-
turned.

Minutes passed. Without moving, Korf gazed
at the sharp features in which he could only with
difficulty recognize the sweet face of his assistant.
How this poor creature must have suffered! Pity
overcame his anger.

Then Natalka opened her eyes. The long silken
lashes cast narrow shadows on the lower lids. The
pale face seemed suddenly changed. The great
brown eyes looked around the room searchingly and
then rested on Korf. A tender smile beautified her

70

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

mouth, which had been pinched in as though in
pain, and her lips opened.

“Korf !” she murmured. “He has come !”

The sound of these few words, the liberated
happy smile, and the deep sigh of a breast taking
a breath of relief touched Korf to the heart. How
Natalka must have longed for him, who alone could
bring her help ! But again a bitter thought came to
his mind and hardened his heart. Yes, she had in-
deed longed for him, the technician, the rescuer
But what of Korf the man, whom she had mistreat
ed?

“You are saved, Miss Weisz!” he said coldly,
himself felt the flatness of his words.

“By you ! How I thank you !”

This sounded so tender and true that Sam could
not understand how Korf was able to reply
“Whether it was I or some one else, is
ent to you. I only did my duty as
“I know,” whispered Natalka, “you did not sus-
pect who Skoryna was. Allow Natalka to thank
you for saving Skoryna.”

“I am speaking with Skoryna and I
thanks.”

“That means then that — that you reject Natalka’s
thanks ?”

The brown eyes were anxiously fixed on Korf, as
though awaiting a judgment. Korf looked down
and did not reply.

Slowly the cable crawled over to the rocket and was then cast around the steel hull and
tied fast. Then the cable was wound up, became taut and floated the mass of the rocket

along slowly.

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

71

With a groan the invalid fell back, while Sam
bent over her, greatly worried. Then he whispered
to his brother-in-law: “Any excitement is bad for
her ! Don’t you see how you are torturing her ?”

Korf gave the speaker an icy look. He was think-
ing of the day when Natalka visited him with Mer-
tens — the day when he had felt the most terrible
disappointment in all his life! Had Natalka asked
then whether she was not perhaps torturing him?

“Then you cannot forgive me?” continued Na-
talka, and her question sounded like a plea. But
Korf remained silent.

After a while Natalka straightened up. She
seemed stronger, as she said in a clear voice :

“It is true. I am asking too much of you. But
no criminal is judged without having a chance to
justify himself. Will you hear me?”

When Korf nodded agreement, Natalka whisp-
ered with trembling lips, “August Korf, of what do
you accuse me?”

Korf looked up in surprise. “Do you ask me
that?” he answered in amazement, and yet it seemed
to him that it would be hard to formulate an accusa-
tion.

“Yes, I ask you that, and you must answer!”

A strange uncertainty came over Korf. What
was he to say? What did he really know? What
had this woman done to him ? The energy cartridge !
Did he really have any proofs? And if so, had not
Natalka just demonstrated at the hazard of her
young life that this invention was worthless ? After
his victory by means of the detonating gas propul-
sion, what did he care about an invention that could
no longer mean anything to anyone? It would now
be ridiculous to make this affair the subject of an
accusation. But what then? His thoughts were
confused. His violent reproaches, which had been
clear to him a few minutes before, had crumbled
to dust at the simple question : “Of what do you ac-
cuse me?”

“You do not answer?” said the tired voice of the
invalid. “Very well! Then I shall tell you your
grievance against me.” She remained silent a short
time, to collect her strength for what she had to
say.

“Did I not find out and steal your ideas? Is not
the cartridge which operates my father’s rocket
your invention? Is it not your intellectual prop-
erty ?”

Korf made a gesture of indifference. “It is not
worth mentioning. The powder rocket is played
out.”

“A sad end, indeed, for the shot into infinity ! But
what remains of my crime, if you cast aside with a
wave of the hand my theft of your invention?”

Confused and embarrassed, Korf stood before the
invalid. He had come as a judge, and now he was
put to the question like a schoolboy who has not
learned his lesson. What remained of his accusa-
tion?

Was he to cry out his pain at having his love dis-
appointed? That would simply make him ridicu-
lous !

Natalka smiled a little. “Listen, August Korf,
I will confess to you. You shall learn everything.”

Light from Natalka

O LD Sam had taken good notice of the change
which was taking place in Korf. In excitement
he waited further developments. Although he as a
physician was insistent on keeping the patient from
all harmful emotions, he said to himself that speak-
ing things out clearly was far preferable to gnawing
uncertainty.

In short sentences, broken by pauses of exhaus-
tion, Natalka commenced :

“I do not conceal from you that I came to you on
behalf of my father — to find out from you what we
had long lacked to conclude our work of years —
the necessary energy container of sufficient capa-
city to operate the rocket. I found more than I
had dared hope. Your ideas intoxicated me. I rec-
ognized in you a genius far superior to my father’s
intellect. My most daring dream seemed near ful-
fillment by your invention. I forgot my father’s
pressing errand, I worked with you and for you on
the complete solution of the problem to which my
father had devoted his life and which was also the
aim of my existence. I wished nothing further than
the quickest possible completion of your — our —
work, the building of a space ship, to conquer the
universe — with you — through you!”

Korf saw the structure of his doubts tottering. He
listened intently to the soft but clear words of Na-
talka. After a pause she went on:

“I should not have been a woman, if I had not
felt that you saw something more in me than just
a helper. And the hot blood of Hungary would not
have flowed in my veins, if I had let this discovery
pass without any impression on me!”

“Natalka !” cried Korf, trembling with emotion.
But the invalid continued undisturbed.

“But ambition and eagerness for accomplishment
overcame all other feelings in me. That is a spirit-
ual inheritance from my poor restless father! You
hesitated to use your work. You refused foreign
capital, and in impoverished Germany you could
not secure the necessary funds. Impatiently I
longed for the building of a model which could be
put to practical use. You seemed satisfied with the
scientific solution. But I longed for the deed— the
great liberating deed, to mark an epoch in universal
history !

“And when I then saw that in your German thor-
oughness you were making no more progress and
that no impulse, whether right or wrong, would set
you in motion, to put the results of your genius
before the world, I felt a boundless disappointment.
You needed to steal, August Korf! To effect your
end, stealing or any means at all should have been
right to you, in order to bring to pass the wonder-
work of the ages. It was a crime against mankind
that national honor and trifling pride as a citizen
meant more to you than this noble work. Nations
rise and fall, ideas and opinions change in the course
of time, but in the beginning comes the deed! It
outlasts time, it creates epochs, it is the centre about
which peoples and ideas are grouped.

“My father’s letters reached me in this frame of
mind. I had written him that you had solved the
problem, and this brief message had caused him to
act. He had found a financier, the Roumanian Ro-
mano Vacarescu. The construction of the Suchinow
rocket had started. Then I made comparisons be-

72

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

tween him and you. There was my father, the man
of iron energy, inspired with boundless ambition
and an immeasurable will but with limited intellect-
ual gifts ! And there was yourself, the scientist, the
genius ! You had the means and did not know how
to use them to the utmost end. In such moments
I hated you ! My father would have hesitated at no
crime, if it had been necessary to realize his ideal.-
I, his daughter, have been a thief, to advance the
cause which I served. I cared nothing for my
father’s personal glory and still less for yours ! My
life was dedicated to this work, and I think I have
proved that this is not mere words.

“I have sacrified more than my honor as a citizen
— I gave up happiness for the great work.”

Korf was amazed to hear the revelations of a
great soul, which he to be sure did not understand
in all respects. Yet he began to have a feeling that
in morality also there is perhaps a limit of gravity,
at which the idea of up and down loses its meaning.

“After the unlucky burning of your laboratory I
doubted whether your machine would ever be built.
According to bourgeois ideas it was wrong for me
to leave you at the time which was most difficult
for you and your work. But what is right — what
is wrong? They are ideas set up by human beings,
who come and go! I saw you work, seek, weigh,
and investigate — and the time set my soul on fire.

“I had collected your ideas, and in Berlin, at the
home of my married sister, I carried them out pain-
fully. My exhausts were differently constructed
than yours — but that did not at all change my theft
of your basic ideas and your powder-mixture in the
energy cartridges. I placed my plans before my
father and described them as stolen from you. I
was forced to this half lie, since my father would
have mistrusted my own constructions. Rightly,
too, as the fate of our rocket has proved !

“Believe me, my acts were never directed against
you, the man Korf. Under any circumstances — by
means which you know — I had to keep you from
seeking after me, which might have been dangerous
to my father and consequently to the work.”

For a time Natalka remained silent in exhaustion.
Then she continued in a voice full of emotion :

“The goal is now reached. The space ship is
speeding through the ether, and I am happy that it
is after all Korf’s work which has won the victory.
And if my call for help from the moon helped to
speed up your construction, then I gladly take upon
myself the judgment of the world, and I am proud
of my deed !”

Korf had long since lost his proud bearing. With
lowered eyes he had listened to Natalka’s confes-
sion. Her words rang in his ears, and he bent his
head in shame — in shame because of the revealing
of a soul which was stronger than his own.

“And if you really have done wrong,” he cried,
when she was silent, “those frightful weeks up
there in horrible loneliness would outweigh a mur-
der!”

There was a faint sorrowful smile on Natalka’s
lips.

“They mean nothing,” she said softly, “compared
with the anguish of my heart when I introduced my
brother-in-law Mertens to you as — as my husband.
That was my hardest sacrifice.”

. "Natalka!” stammered Korf, his heart almost too

full for words, and he covered the hand of his loved
one with kisses.

Old Sam felt that he was one too many, and he
quietly withdrew. He was no longer worried about
his patient, since joy is the doctor’s best aid.

“The good fellow has a lot to learn yet !” he mur-
mured to himself. “He is always flighty, one way
or another!”

Then he looked for Suchinow, to tell him that his
daughter was out of danger and to feel, his pulse.

CHAPTER XXIII
Flight

T IE Geryon had again reached the neutral
gravity zone between the earth and the moon,
x'he moon was becoming smaller and smaller,
until it was again a yellowish disk floating in the
black sky, while the earth increased in size propor-
tionately. Since the space ship during its manoeuv-
ers around the moon had been carried along a bit
in the moon’s orbit, it was now approaching the
earth on the return trip more on the side toward the
sun, and the crescent of the earth seemed fuller.
More than half of its disk was already shining in
the sunlight.

Berger, who had taken charge of the ship for the
time being, was just considering whether it would
be right to shut off the exhausts altogether at the
limit of gravity and submit the Geryon to the at-
traction of the earth, or whether it would not be
more sensible to get Korf’s opinion first. Just then
Sam came up to him.

“Why so grim a face, my dear Berger? We are
homeward bound !”

“Grim, doctor?” said Berger with a laugh. “Not
that I knew of ! I was just reflecting whether I had
better disturb Mr. Korf. I should like some direc-
tions as to what to do.”

Sam touched Berger’s arm. “Not now! Leave
him alone, and act on your own judgment! I shall
be responsible.”

“Is it true, doctor,” remarked Berger confidenti-
ally, “that Monsieur Vale is not a French reporter?”
“What do you mean?”

“I think he is the Russian rocket inventor, Suchi-
now.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, I was thinking about his peculiar be-
havior. For a newspaper man he had a bit too
much technical knowledge and interest in the doings
of the ship. And then there was the way he talked
about the rocket, which he knew perfectly well in-
side and out before we had even attached the cable
to it. Then I said to myself that there was some-
thing queer about it. And the cook told that he had
read in some Lindau newspaper, before we started,
that the constructor of the famous rocket had been
badly gassed during the war and in consequence
had remarkable green spots on his face. So it was
not hard to assume that . . . .”

“It certainly fits together, my dear Berger, and he
actually is Suchinow. Anxiety about his rocket
brought him on board our ship. And do you know
who Skoryna is?”

“The conductor of the rocket?”

“Not a conductor but a conductress ! Skoryna is
not a man but a girl, the daughter of Suchinow !”
“Good Heavens ! All honor to her !” cried Berger.

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

73

“What a girl ! Really a girl like that might please
even me, certainly far better than the ladies of
Friedrichshafen, so crazy to be married, who just
knit beautiful stockings, drink coffee, and wait for
some one to come along and take them away ! Bah !”

“Yes, we must take off our hats to her. Isn’t
that so, Berger?” Sam grinned to himself, well satis-
fied. It was important that Natalka should not be
misjudged. “Do you remember the assistant who
used to work with Korf ?” he went on.

“Of course,” said Berger, “she was a Miss Weisz,
if I remember rightly. She had a clever head, this
assistant, much better than many an engineer in
the airport. I believe that Korf was very sorry
when she went away.”

“Now listen! Skoryna is none other than this
Miss Weisz !”

Berger’s mouth was wide open in amazement.
“What! The assistant went to work on her own
account and . . . .”

Sam put in with a laugh, “And this girl took in
some of Korf’s ideas and imitated him all of a sud-
den. What do you say now?”

As well as might be in the absence of weight,
Berger slapped his thigh and cried:

“She is even better than Korf! Now I am not
surprised that Korf was a bit fond of his assistant.
They are worthy of each other !”

“That is what I think !” agreed Sam, well pleased.
He was satisfied. Respect for Natalka’s accomplish-
ment seemed to prevent any distorted views. Of
course he had to admit to himself that the opinion
of Berger, an enthusiastic sailor of air and space,
did not determine how the world at large would
judge Natalka’s acts.

“But what I wanted to ask, Berger, was whether
you had seen Suchinow?”

“A quarter of an hour ago he got a rubber suit
and went out to his rocket ! He probably has vari-
ous things to tinker with on it.”

Since Sam had nothing better to do, he determined
to leave the ship also for a little trip. He circled
around the Geryon close to it and looked in at the
windows. There he saw Natalka, smiling happily,
hand in hand with Korf, who was eagerly speaking
to her.

“I beg a thousand pardons!” said Sam, snicker-
ing to himself. “I will not intrude!” He turned
quickly away and soon reached the bow of the ship.

“Well, what is the matter there?” he cried in as-
tonishment, when he saw the rocket floating some
distance away, unattached — freed from the ropes
that held it. Suchinow was just creeping into his
machine through the air container which had been
attached.

“Stop! Where are you going?” cried Sam. In
his eagerness he did not notice that no one could
have heard his words. Persuaded by the absolute
weightlessness, he had not put on a telephone wire
and was therefore not connected with the ship’s
telephone.

Suchinow did not pay any attention to Sam but
vanished into the rocket.

“What are you doing with the rocket?” he cried
again, of course without any effect. With a mighty
leap he sped from the ship toward the rocket. It
was too late. A dense white cloud was suddenly

formed in space, and the speeding torpedo was al-
ready vanishing in the distance.

Suchinow had fled.

The airless space, absolutely impervious to any
sound, had made it possible for the rocket to leave
at full power without anybody being able to hear
the explosions.

Sam was in the dense cloud of fine ice crystals,
formed by the discharges of the rocket. A white
impenetrable mist surrounded him. The rocket had
disappeared, and there was also nothing to be seen
of the Geryon. Fine needles of ice clung to the
leather covering of his pneumatic suit, besides stick-
ing to the quartz lenses of the helmet. He had
completely lost his sense of direction. In whatever
way he looked^ he could see nothing but the grey
mist.

Lost In Space

CERTAINLY miscalculated to-day!” he said

JL to himself, by way of reproof. He tried with
a couple of pistol shots to escape from the mist,
which no current of air was scattering. Unluckily
he had taken the wrong direction, and when he had
emerged from the clouds, he saw to his terror that
the Geryon was floating in the far distance and was
going farther and farther away. His own speed was
constantly carrying Sam off in the direction he had
taken.

He again pulled out the pistol and fired some
braking shots. His quick motion, which had been
comenced by the violent leap from the ship and
increased by the first two directional shots, became
slower and finally entirely stopped. But there was
a long distance to travel back to the Geryon, glis-
tening there in the distance, and the cartridge
chamber of the pistol was empty.

In excitement he examined the pockets of his
rubber suit for ammunition. In vain ! There was
not a single cartridge to be found. What should
he do now?

He drew up his legs and sent them back quickly,
as powerfully as he could, hoping that by such
swimming motions he could commence to move
along. But even if this would have had effect in
the interior of the air-filled ship, in empty space his
efforts had to remain ineffectual. However hard
he tried, the distance to the Geryon remained the
same.

Tired and despairing, he ceased his fruitless ex-
ertions. A cold sweat ran down his back. He swore
up and down that on future flights he would be
fastened triply and would put on an armor of well-
filled cartridge belts. All this, meanwhile, did not
after the fact that the ship’s doctor of the Geryon
was going his way alone in space as an independent
celestial body.

Then a gleaming dot came away from the ship.
Sam drew a breath of relief. “God be thanked!
My adventure has been observed !”

The dot increased in size and soon the inflated
balloon-like figure of a member of the crew floated
up to him. It took him by the arm and set the
weary man in motion again by the recoil of a couple
of pistol shots. It was Berger.

A few minutes later the two landed again on the
Geryon and slipped through the chamber into the
interior.

“Well, doctor !” said his savior with a laugh, when

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Once more the Geryon flew over the shed. Then it went out over the lake. Far but
there it turned again to the shore and) descended. The water splashed high as the won-

derful bird settled down and cut through the foaming waves.

74

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

75

the suits had been taken off. “You want to be in-
dependent! Or are you also thinking of fleeing?”
“Has the Russian really gone?” replied Sam in
excitement.

“For ever! The orderly just brought me this
note, that was fastened to the lamp.”

Sam hurriedly seized the paper. It was not sealed,
and he therefore thought it proper to read the mes-
sage, though it was directed to Korf.

“Receipt?” be muttered. “What can Suchinow
give us a receipt for?” Then he read on:

“As representative and manager of the Transcos-
mos Stock Company, of Bucharest, having full au-
thority, I hereby declare that I have received back
from August Korf, of Friedrichshafen, the rocket
R S I in perfect condition. In the name of the
company I express to Mr. Korf my thanks and best
wishes for this successful rescue expedition.

“Space ship Geryon, February 7.

Suchinow.”

“A comical chap, isn’t he?” said Berger, as Sam
put the letter back in the envelope.

“That man has the devil after him. He cannot
bear to return to earth towed by us. He prefers

• m • •

He left the sentence unfinished andi went to Na-
talka’s cabin.

“I must see about my patient a bit !” he said,
when Korf opened the door to his hesitant knocks.
“I must see that she is not excited and mistreated.”
He was amazed at the brilliance of her eyes and
the fresh color that shone on the thin cheeks of the
invalid.

“I feel very well, doctor!” said Natalka. “I am
going to be so happy on earth, with meadows and
woods and animals and flowers. The flowers es-
pecially !”

“By the day after tomorrow, dearest,” said Korf
happily, “we shall be rocking on the waves of Lake
Constance. That is to say, if it is not frozen. In
our northern hemisphere it is now winter.”

“Oh, then we shall go through the snowy pine
woods, which glisten in the sun and cast blue
shadows on the snow. We shall throw snowballs
like children and coast down the valley. And in the
evening we shall sit by the crackling stove and
breathe the fragrance of roasting chestnuts and
watch the apples smoke on the fire. And we shall
hold hands. Can you understand, Korf, how in-
finitely beautiful all the little trifles of the earth
seem — after the long weeks and months in space?”
“And the shot into infinity ?” said Korf, jestingly.
“It has died away. My task is fulfilled. At last
I may and will live!”

Sam thought it time to let the exhausted invalid
sleep, and he pushed out his resisting brother-in-
law.

“You have fifty years ahead of you, Gus! A few
hours right now do not matter. Natalka is still
weak and needs rest. Be sensible !”

In saying these words he did not suspect that the
few hours did matter, after all.

Suchinow’s flight surprised Korf but did not
trouble him much. “All right !” he said indifferently.
“As he appeared in the Geryon, thus he disappears
again — unexpectedly and silently. I can sympathize
with his wish to save the residue of his fame by
making an independent landing.”

“Do you think he will succeed in landing with his
own power?”

“‘Why not? The Geryon brought him away from
the moon, so that the rocket still has the supplies of
energy provided for braking purposes. Let us not
speak of it any more! Above all, do not mention
the affair to Natalka at present! She might worry
about her father’s fate.”

Joyfully the entire company looked forward to
the landing manoeuvers. The speed of the ship,
which had been greatly increased when at the moon,
was now so accelerated by the attraction of the
earth that already on the next day the brilliantly
lighted earth extended in vast expanse below the
carrousel. The continents were so sharply con-
trasted with the darker oceans that one might have
thought he saw below him an excellently con-
structed terrestial globe.

The Geryon steered for the east edge of the earth,
in order not to strike the atmosphere opposite to the
rotation of the earth. This would have increased
the relative speed and accordingly the danger from
heat to a very high degree. Korf also wanted to
land by daylight and therefore had to descend on
the sunny side of the earth.

When the earth was so close that it no longer
looked like a celestial body floating in space but
rather like ordinary land, over which the Geryon
was floating at an unimaginable height, Korf no
longer left the control room. The most difficult
part of the entire trip, the landing, was almost at
hand. The radio of the ship was in action.

CHAPTER XXIV
On Earth

A TUMULT of joy seized the world when the
first radio messages from the approaching
Geryon were received by the great stations
and sent all over the world.

Persons totally unacquainted embraced one an-
other enthusiastically on the street. Banners
waved from the houses. “Victory! Victory!” was
the nation’s cry of joy. The last crisis in parlia-
ment was forgotten. Party quarrels ceased, and
pride shone in every eye, pride for the successful
son of German soil.

The buildings of the great newspapers were at all
times besieged by curious persons, waiting for the
latest news, to spread it over the whole city in a
flash. They did not seem to mind the cold, damp
winter weather and the dirty slush in the streets.

There was a regular migration of the nations to
Friedrichshafen. The little city swarmed once
more with sightseers, who were unwilling to miss
the sight of the landing of the ship from the sky.
Mother Barbara did good business. Her cafe room
was full to overflowing, and she was proud of her
fellow citizens who had brought so many guests to
her house.

“Yes, we Swabians,” she used to say, “we are
having a celebration for Korf !” And no one could
deny it.

Korf’s radiograms had set the landing for Feb-
ruary eighth. Very early in the morning the land-
ing place was alive with people. The farmers to
whom the adjoining fields belonged were complain-
ing of the crowds that heedlessly walked over the
fields, but against the great numbers they could do'

76

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

nothing. Temporary booths sprang up and re-
freshed the freezing mob with hot drinks. The bare
wintry fields, covered with dirty grey snow, had in
a few hours changed to a wild encampment, and the
solid ground was being trodden into black sticky
mud.

Luckily the fine rain of the past few days, which
had been accompanied with snow, had ceased. Now
and then a sunbeam even penetrated the moisture-
laden clouds and caressed the swarm of people
down at the landing place.

In the great semicircle on the shore around the
space ship shed, guarded by soldiers, a band took its
place. Film operators had set up high airy stands,
from which they now and then took pictures of the
ever moving masses. An army of reporters, pencil
in hand, spent the day freezing.

Toward eleven o’clock appeared the automobiles
of the government officials and the guests of honor.
A whisper ran through the crowd at the appearance
of Director Heyse’s car, from which he watched the
sky through a majestic telescope.

“We shall have a surprise, your excellency!” he
said to the government minister sitting beside him.
“The clouds cut off the view, and before we know
it, the Geryon will break through and be here !”

“I am afraid that these dense clouds will cause
trouble for Korf in locating where he is,” said the
grey-bearded man.

“Hardly !” replied Councillor Heyse. “The taking
of bearings by radio is so dependable that the Geryon
can know its position exactly without seeing the
earth. Anyway, Berger is an expert in this. It was
he who first used this method of determining direc-
tion and location on the flight of the ZR-3 to Amer-
ica. Since then taking bearings by radio has been
greatly improved. Also . .

A wild cheer from the crowd swallowed up
Heyse’s last words. To the southwest a dark spot
had come through the clouds and was becoming
visibly larger.

The Geryon was in sight !

It came nearer and lower in an oblique flight.
The mighty wings shone brightly at times, when a
sunbeam struck them. The egg-shaped hull could
already be plainly recognized.

The cosmic speed had long been used up in the
dense atmosphere, and the space ship was manoeuv-
ering in the air like a gigantic flying machine. Then
it swept low in a glide. The mighty mass soared
close to the heads of the onlookers, so that many
anxiously rushed away, and an incurable confusion
took place. They could not escape the impression
that in the next minute the uncanny structure up
in the air would rush down and bury the people
under its steel mass.

Once more the Geryon flew over the shed, just
twenty meters in the air. Then it went out over
the lake. Far out there it turned again to the shore
and descended easily and surely. The water
splashed high as the wonderful bird settled down
on the lake and cut through the foaming waves.

The crowd began to move. They swelled down
toward the shore, andL the police cordon had to
struggle hard to keep open the space between the
shed and the landing bridge.

The little auxiliary exhausts rattled a few times
more. The ship rushed on, became slower in its
course, and then lay rocking by the pier, built far

out into the lake. It was a lifeless steel shell, which
no one could have thought the monster which a
few seconds before had floated freely in the air.

Breathlessly they waited for the appearance of
the commander. Heyse’s car drove close to the
pier, and the occupants got out. A few soldiers
quickly ran a gangway to the entrance of the Ger-
yon.

At last a man appeared in the dark opening. A
deafening cheer came from ten thousand throats to
the conqueror of space and drowned out the sounds
of the band.

“Hurrah for Korfl Hurrah for the Geryon !”

The crowd went wild. The man on the gangway
waved his hand in a tired fashion. It was Berger.

Oppressed and slowly, as though a vast weight
rested on him, he walked to Heyse, straightened up
with difficulty, and announced briefly: “The space
ship Geryon safely landed !”

“Welcome to you brave men!” cried Heyse

heartily, shaking Berger’s hand. “But ,” he

hesitated a second, while an anxious question was
in his eyes, “where is Korf?”

Berger was relieved of an answer. A silent pro-
cession came slowly over the pier. Dr. Finkle came
first, bent and weighed down, like all the rest from
on board the Geryon. Unused to the earth’s grav-
ity, they were bent under the weight of their own
bodies and could stand upright only with a great
effort.

Then followed the members of the crew, carrying
a bier on their shoulders. Behind came Korf, his
head bare, pale and distressed.

He did not see the people who had come on his
day of glory from all parts of the country. He did
not hear the incessant enthusiastic applause. He
did not know that all eyes rested proudly on him,
the hero they were celebrating this day, who had
accomplished what seemed impossible.

Silently he followed the men who were carrying
what was dearest to him. There was infinite sor-
row in the dull look which he kept fixed on the mo-
tionless shrouded figure upon the bier.

“Germany, Germany above all else!” sounded
from the band, and the crowd continued: “Above
all else in the world!” The national anthem of
Germany rang out over the bare fields and the
crested waves.

Korf’s lips moved as though in pain. “Above all
else in the world !” he repeated feebly. Then he
turned to Heyse.

“I congratulate the German nation for this suc-
cess !”

That was all that he could say to the people who
had awaited him in feverish excitement and were
ready to heap him with honors.

The day which was to have been Korf’s most
sacred day of honor and happiness had become the
bitterest of his life. The suddenly returning gravity
had pressed the body of Natalka, weakened and un-
used to weight for many months, with extreme
violence upon her bed. The earth itself, which had
been the last desire of this much tried mortal, had
accomplished what the cosmos had been unable to
do. Her heart, which for half a year had defied the
most awful death, had ceased to b»at a few hours
before the landing.

“Above all else in the world !” resounded the song

THE SHOT INTO INFINITY

77

of the enthusiastic crowd. To Korf it sounded like
mockery.

The Fate of Suchinow
EEKS had passed.

A veritable flood of congratulations came to
the victor of the Geryon. Countless interviews took
place along with countless banquets of celebration.
The ceremonial founding of the Korf Space Ship
Company crowned the work by Lake Constance, as
the final act of what was past and the initial impulse
to new deeds.

All the newspapers on earth described the boldi
flight, showing the “lucky ship” in all sorts of pic-
tures, and connected with it the wildest hopes for
the future development of the epoch-making inven-
tion. In all civilized countries there was striving
to be able to greet the men of the Geryon within
their frontiers as guests. Korf’s name resounded
around the earth.

But Korf cared little about the uproar caused by
his deed. In restless activity he sought to still the
gnawing grief for Natalka. With fiery zeal he
worked on the projects of the company. The pos-
sibility of travelling in space was now proved. Now
it was a matter of using what had been done. He
had to utilize the experience gained in the Geryon
to build new and more efficient space ships and to
take possession of the moon and the neighboring
planets. His boldest hopes were approaching real-
ization, but there was still a long way before him.

In vain they waited for the landing of Suchinow.
The rocket remained unheard of. Certainly the ob-
servatories had watched it when the bright spot left
the space ship. But that had been the last word
from the rocket. The fate of the unlucky Russian
remained a riddle. But weeks later light was cast
by the news from an overdue whaler, coming back
from the south coast of Greenland.

« The crew of the ship had been surprised on the
eighth of February by a singular phenomenon.
Suddenly, though there had not been a breath of air,
there was a hissing and roaring in the air, as though
a cyclone were coming. Before the terrified crew
came to their senses, a mighty waterspout rose to
heaven not far from the ship, disappearing equally
quickly. When they had passed by the spot, they
had been struck by the warm air permeated with
clouds of sulphurous smoke. This event was so
odd and inexplicable that the captain took exact ob-
servations of the locality and put all the details of
what he observed in a full report.

When Korf learned of this report, he said quietly,
“Suchinow did not think of the atmosphere, which
we entered from the side. Probably the torpedo
burst open in the atmosphere on account of the one-
sided pressure and plunged unguided into the sea.”

Honor By Forgetting

S AM’S practice increased. He had a great rush
of real and imaginary invalids, who stared at
the ship’s doctor of the Geryon as at a strange beast,
until it got too much for him. He kept curious per-
sons away by charging outrageous prices.

With all possible means he stirred the zeal of his
brother-in-law to work. He carefully avoided any
reference to Natalka, hoping that time would heal
ctll the scars.

But one day, when he had just come to see Korf,

The

to invite him to take a walking trip, a great yellow
envelope was delivered, directed to Korf in person,
bearing the return address of the Magyar Bank.

“What have you to do with this Hungarian
bank ?” asked Sam casually.

“I am accustomed to letters from persons I do
not know,” replied Korf indifferently, as he opened
the letter. “I have had more mail in the last few
weeks than I did in the ten years before !”

But scarcely had he looked at the papers within
when his indifferent expression vanished and his
heaving breast showed his emotion.

“What is it?” asked Sam eagerly.

Without saying a word, Korf went to his work-
room and locked himself in.

Sam walked uneasily up and down. He feared
new disturbances of his brother-in-law’s mental
balance, secured with so much trouble, though he
could not imagine how a letter from a bank could
trouble Korf in any way.

A half hour passed without Korf’s reappearance.

Sam could no longer control his uneasiness, and
he desired to be admitted to the engineer’s room.

“Excuse me, Uncle Sam!” said the latter as he
opened the door. “I totally forgot you were here.”

He seemed calm, quiet, and even smiling sorrow-
fully. Without being asked he passed Sam the let-
ter from the bank. This stated that now, after the
death of the rocket-operator Skoryna had been es-
tablished, the latter’s disposition of the insurance
money had been opened. The sum of twenty thou-
sand English pounds had been willed to Mr. August
Korf of Friedrichshafen. As soon as Mr. Korf fur-
nished proof that Skoryna’s death had not been
natural but had been due to a mishap in the rocket.

“These people are causing themselves too much
trouble!” said Korf impatiently, before Sam had
finished reading. “Mr. Vacarescu may be at ease. I
shall offer no proof, and he will not have to pay.”

Then he folded up a letter which had been en-
closed with the letter from the bank, placing it care-
fully in his breast pocket.

“The last words from someone now 'dead!” he
replied to Sam’s unspoken question. He sat down
by the stove and stared silently into the flames.

“Gus !” Sam put his hand on the engineer’s
shoulder. “Leave the dead in peace ! It was to be !
And . , .” he hesitated a moment, “and it was best
so!”

“Yes, it was best so !” he repeated, as Korf looked
up questioningly. “Are you going to grieve for a
person who died in the moment of greatest happi-
ness ? Look, Gus, you no longer belong to yourself
or to her. You belong to mankind, and the world
has a claim upon you. The man must be free and
unchained by any ties, who is called upon to con-
quer the realm of planets. You will and must com-
plete your task, for the sake of mankind and of Na-
talka. You are mistaking the will of this great
woman, if you eat out your heart in mourning for
her. Thank her by your deeds, and honor her by
forgetting her!”

Korf raised his head. “You are righf, Uncle
Sam !” he said slowly. “To be alone and solitary is
the lot of him to whom the vibrations of the uni-
verse are familiar and the currents of a great soul
are unknown. I will forget Natalka for the second
time, that her work may live on !”

End

r

Artificial .MAN

/ \ Clare ^in^er Harris

Before David’s startled gaze the newcomer placed his right hand to his left shoulder and
removed the left arm. He then proceeded to dismember himself until only a torso, head

and one arm remained.

78

THE ARTIFICIAL MAN

I

I N the annals of surgery no case has ever left
quite as horrible an impression upon the pub-
lic as did that of George Gregory, a student of
Austin College. Young Gregory was equally profi-
cient in scholastic and athletic work, having been for
two years captain of the football team, and for one
year a marked success in intercollegiate debates.
No student of the senior class of
Austin or Decker will ever forget
his masterful arguments as he up-
held the affirmative in the ques-
tion: — “Resolved that bodily per-
fection is a result of right think-
ing.” Gregory gave every prom-
ise of being one of the masterful
minds of the age ; and if masterful
in this instance means dominat-
ing, he was that — and more.

Alas that his brilliant mentality
was destined to degradation
through the physical body — but
that is my story.

It was the Thanksgiving game
that proved the beginning of
George’s downfall. Warned by
friends that he would be wise to
desist from the more dangerous
physical sports, he laughingly —
though with
u n q u e s -
tionable sincer-
ity — refer-
red to the con-
text of his fam-
ous debate, de-
claring that a
correct mental
attitude toward
life — ' he had
this point down
to a mathemat-
ical correctness
— r e n d e r e d
physical disas-
ters impossible.

His sincerity in
believing this
w a s laudable,
and so far his
credence had
stood him i n
good stead. No
one who saw his well-proportioned six-foot figure
making its way through the opponents’ lines, could
doubt that the science of thinking rightly was fav-
orably exemplified in young Gregory.

But can thinking be an exact science? Before the
close of that Thanksgiving game George was car-
ried unconscious from the field, and in two days his
right leg was amputated just below the hip.

During the days of his convalescence two bedside
visitors brightened the weary hours spent upon the
hospital cot. They were David Bell, a medical stu-
dent, and Rosalind Nelson, the girl whom George
had loved since his freshman year.

“I say, Rosalind,” he ventured one day as she sat
by his bedside. “It’s too bad to think of you ever
being tied up to a cripple. I’m willing to step
aside— can’t do it gracefully of course with only one
leg — but I mean it, my dear girl. You don’t want

CLARE WINGER HARRIS

‘T is well established today that human beings can get
along without a number of their usual organs. We have
seen men deprived of their arms and legs who could
still do useful work. There are men living, and seemingly
little tbe worse for it, who have lost either an eye or a nose, or
have only one kidney, and it is now possible even to have
an artificial voice in case a part of the larynx and the vocal
chords have to be removed through disease.

That science will discover more and more how to artificial-
ly replace human organs is a foregone conclusion. How far
this process may go no one however knows. Recent experi-
ments on animals have shown that it is even possible for a
cat to live with an artificial rubber heart. These experiments
are all of vast importance to humanity, because we may be
deprived of a number of our organs by accident or disease.

The author of the present story has taken these thoughts
as a basis of a most interesting narrative which is in its en-
tirety based upon excellent science, and there is no telling
that an exact counterpart of what she so vividly describes
may not come about sooner or later.

only part of a husband !”

Rosalind smiled affectionately. “George, don’t
think for a minute that it matters to me. You’re
still you, and I love you dear. Can’t you believe
that? The loss of a bodily member doesn’t alter
your identity.”

“That’s just what gets me,” responded her lover
with a puzzled frown. “I have al-
ways believed, and do now, that
the mental and physical are so
closely related as to be insepar-
able. I think it is Browning who
says, ‘We know not whether soul
helps body more than body helps
soul.’ They develop together,
and if either is injured the other
is harmed. Losing part of my
body has made me lose part of my
soul. I’m not what I was. My
mental attitude has changed as a
result of this abominable catastro-
phe. I’m no longer so confident.
I feel myself slipping and I — oh
it is unbearable!”

Rosalind endeavored to the best
of her ability to reassure the un-
fortunate man, but he sank into a
despondent mood, and seeing that
her efforts at
cheering h i m
were unavail-
ing, she arose
and left him.

In the outer
hall she met
Bell on his way
to visit the sick
man. He no-
ticed her trou-
bled mien and
asked if George
were not so
well today.

“Yes, David,"
she replied, a
quiver in her
voice, “the
wound is heal-
ing nicely, but
he is so morose.
He has a notion
— oh how can I

tell it — a sort of feeling that some of his mental

? oise and confidence have gone with his lost limb.

ou will soon be a graduate physician, won’t you
assure him that his fears are groundless ?”

“I don’t know but that his case is one for the
minister or psychologist rather than the medical
man,” answered Bell. “His physical wound is heal-
ing, but it seems his mental wound is not. However,
I will do my best, not only for your sake, Rosalind,
but because I am interested in the happiness of my
old college chum.”

Rosalind smiled her gratitude and turned abruptly
away to hide the tears that she had held back as
long as possible.

Five months passed, and with the aid of a crutch
George made excellent headway in overcoming the
difficulties of locomotion. If David and Rosa-
lind noticed a subtle change in the disposition and

79

80

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

character of their mutual friend, they made no fur-
ther reference to it.

A Transformation

A T length came a day when in the company of both
of these faithful friends George Gregory an-
nounced his intention of using an artificial limb in-
stead of a crutch. His sweetheart voiced immediate
remonstrance.

“No, George, I’d rather see you walking with the
visible aid of a crutch than to think of your using
an artificial leg. Somehow it seems like hypocrisy,
a kind of appearing to be what you aren’t. I know
my idea is poorly expressed, but that’s the way I
feel about it.”

A peculiar light came into Gregory’s eyes, a light
that neither friend had ever seen there before. He
straightened visibly, almost without the aid of his
crutch. !

“I’ll walk yet as well as any one and maybe it
will give me back my mental confidence. My mind
shall triumph over my body as well as it ever did !”
The artificial leg was duly applied to the hip
stump, and it really was amazing to observe the
rapidity with which Gregory mastered the art of
using it proficiently. Anyone unacquainted with
his deformity Would never have realized that he
did not possess two normal legs.

And then came the automobile accident a week
before the time set for the Nelson-Gregory nup-
tials. How George Gregory’s car was struck by
an on coming truck, reduced to a junk-heap, and
George thrown into a ditch, so that one arm was
finally caused to be amputated, never will be known,
for George had always been a careful driver. Even
with his artificial leg he declared he had no difficulty
in putting on the brake. The fall had, as was
proved later, caused also internal injuries so that
some of the bodily organs did not function properly.

The months that followed were to all who were
closely concerned with the accident, like a descent
into Hades. Dr. Bell, serving as an interne in the
Good Samaritan Hospital, devoted himself untir-
ingly to the tragic case of George Gregory. A
world famous specialist was summoned in consul-
tation concerning the internal injuries sustained by
Gregory. Very little hope was held out for the life
of the unfortunate man, although there was one
chance ; an artificial kidney.* The vigorous constitu-
tion of the invalid came to his rescue. He not
only survived the operation but seemed to be in
the best of health afterward.

And it is not to be wondered that Rosalind be-
gan to doubt whether her love for George Gregory
could remain the same as before. Thrown constant-
ly as she was in the company of Dr. David Bell,
observing his devoted care and interest in George,
she began to compare, or rather to contrast, the
two men. George’s rapid deterioration was no
longer a possible flight of the imagination. It was
an actuality. It was no longer possible to over-
look the meaning behind his words.

“God expresses Himself through the physical
world,” he said when the three were together at

*Note: An “artificial kidney " has been invented re-
cently, and tried out successfully on dogs. A cylinder
of glass contains a number of celloidin tubes which
strain the poisons out of the blood.)

George’s apartment on Kenneth Drive. “He is a
Spirit, but He makes Himself manifest in the per-
fection of a physical world. As much of physical
perfection as I have lost, that much of God or Good-
ness has left me and there are no two ways about
it.”

Remonstrance was useless, so convinced was the
invalid that his theories were correct. Also in his
mind there grew steadily an ever increasing dis-
like for the friend of his college days, the doctor.
He could no longer be blind to the fact that it was
a struggle for Rosalind to be loyal to him. He was
also aware of the growing affection that existed
between David and Rosalind. From a dislike his
feelings gradually changed to those of implacable
hatred for his former chum.

The Parting

A T length after weary days and nights of indeci-
sion Rosalind came to the conclusion that she
could not marry George Gregory. She longed to
tell David of her feelings, but could not because she
was conscious of her love for the young doctor. The
subject of marriage had not been mentioned by
either George or Rosalind since the second acci-
dent, but instinctively the girl felt that her lover’s
revious offer at the time of his lost leg, to release
er from their engagement, was not to be renewed ;
though he must have known that his qualifications
as a husband were now fewer than they could pos-
sibly have been before.

The moment that Rosalind had dreaded came at
last. They were strolling together one evening
toward the outskirts of the town. The moon soft-
ened, with its silvery glow, objects that in the glare
of noon stood out in too bold relief. As they left
the highway for the river-path George said :

“Let us set a day for the wedding. I’ve waited
long enough.” As he spoke he put around her waist
an arm, not one with which nature had equipped
him, but one so cunningly wrought that a casual
observer would never have known. But Rosalind
knew! She shuddered, and in that act, George
Gregory knew that his doom was sealed.

“I can’t marry you, George,” she pleaded in a
hoarse, unnatural voice. “I am sorry that it is so,
but I cannot do it.”

The man laughed and the tones chilled the heart
of the girl. “You said once that my identity re-
mained, no matter what the physical imperfections
of my body. Now you deny it!” His voice rose in
his excitement.

“Listen, oh George,” she cried now thoroughly
panic-stricken. “You are yourself allowing your
mental attitude toward life to be altered. You have
admitted it. Had you remained unchanged mental-
ly, I truly believe your physical difference would
not have mattered. I loved you for what you were,
but, George, you are so changed !”

“Yes I am changed,” he shrieked, “but my de-
sires and passions are no different, unless intensifi-
cation indicates a difference.”

He reached toward her, but adept as he was in
the use of his two artificial limbs, she eluded his
grasp and was off with a bound up the rough river-
path and toward the highway. She heard distinctly
the sound of pursuit. Could he outrun her handi-
capped as he was?

THE ARTIFICIAL MAN

Once he fell, and the sound of muttered oaths
came to her ears. On and on she flew, not daring
to look back though she suspected that he was gain-
ing. Just within the border of the town where the
houses were somewhat scattered he caught her and
simultaneously she fainted away.

When consciousness returned a dear familiar face
was bent near her own. With a sob of joy she put
her arms about David’s neck, and in a few endearing
words they plighted their troth.

David, on his way back from a professional call,
where he was substituting for old Dr. Amos who
was ill, had witnessed from a distance the two run- ’
ning figures. Before he arrived upon the spot with
his car, the pursuing form had overtaken the other.

To rescue a maiden from the arms of her lover
seemed a very peculiar service to render — but one
look into the eyes of George Gregory proved to the
doctor beyond the question of a doubt that he was
not dealing with a sane man. The contest was an
unequal one, though the agility displayed by the
cripple would have done credit to a normal man
of more than average prowess. David tried -to
reason with his antagonist, but the use of logic at
that time was unavailing. It was a hard struggle,
but George was finally willing to admit himself
defeated.

A Man Obsessed

A BOUT three months following this incident Dr.

Bell (now in possession of the office of the
late Dr. Amos) was about to lock up after the
afternoon consultations when he heard the approach
of a belated visitor in the hall. Looking up he be-
held Gregory who passed quickly through the wait-
ing-room and into the inner office, closing the door
behind him. The peculiar look of a fanatic, that
had become more marked since his second accident,
was evident now as he seated himself and turned
wild eyes to the doctor.

“Don’t be scared, doc,” he jeered at sight of Bell’s
white drawn face. “I didn’t come to blame you for
winning Rosalind’s love, though I confess the
thought of your wedding next week goes consider-
ably against the grain. I came for another purpose
and I want you to help me.”

He rose now and advanced toward the physician.
The latter observed the perfect mastery of the ar-
tificial limbs, a mastery that proved how well the
brain can be trained to control nerves and muscles
under unusual conditions. Was all the effort of this
brain being turned in that direction to the detriment
of a well-balanced reasoning power?

“Here’s my proposition, Bell,” the words jangled
harshly, bringing to a swift conclusion the doctor's
thoughts regarding the changed mental status of
his one-time friend. “I have decided what I want
done. I’ll admit that what I’m about to tell you
will prove I have a mental quirk which, by the
way, corresponds to my physical quirks, but this
thing has become an obsession with me.”

The speaker leaned forward and held the other’s
attention with a steady gaze. He then resumed. “I
am going to try out an experiment, or rather have it
tried out on me, for I shall be a passive factor in this
case. I am going to find out how much of this mor-
tal coil I can shuffle off and still maintain my per-
sonal identity as a piece of humanity here on earth.
In other words, as much of my body as can be re-

81

moved and substituted by artificial parts, I wish to
have done.”

During Gregory’s recital David’s eyes had di-
lated in horror, and he unconsciously recoiled from
his visitor until the width of the room was between
them. Not a word could he utter. The seconds
ticked away on the little ebony clock on the desk
and still the two men regarded each other with un-
questionable antagonism.

“Well, will you do it. Bell?” The man pointed
significantly to the surgical instruments and the op-
erating table. “I have ample means to pay you
handsomely. I’m going to find out about this mor-
tal body and its relation to the soul before I die.
You’ve robbed me of one desire of my heart, but this
you shall grant !”

At last Bell spoke, and with the sound of his voice
his courage returned. “George, whether you be-
lieve it or not, you are a madman and I refuse to
comply with your request. If, as you yourself main-
tain, with the loss of every bodily member, your
mental and spiritual powers have waned, what in
heaven’s name tell me, would you be with only
enough of your body left to chain your spirit to
earth? I will not aid you in this mad project of
yours. Go, or shall I have you taken to the hos-
pital for the insane?”

George Gregory saw that further persuasion was
useless. He walked toward the outer office but at
the doorway he turned and faced Bell. “There are
other surgeons in the world, and mark my words, I
shall find out yet by how slender a thread body and
soul can hang together.”

The Artificial Man

F IVE years passed. David Bell married Rosalind
Nelson and built up a splendid reputation as a
surgeon. Nothing had been heard in those years of
George Gregory. His memory passed as an evil
dream and his name was never mentioned. Then
one day (it was shortly after the erection of the new
county hospital) David and a young interne by the
name of Lucius Stevens were putting away the in-
struments after an operation, when they felt rather
than heard the approach of an individual. Turning
they beheld the unfamiliar form of a stranger. He
was a little under average height. A cap covered
the upper portion of his face and a long loose over-
coat concealed most of his figure.

“What can we do for you, stranger?” asked Dr.
Bell of the silent figure in the door.

“Stranger I” exclaimed the hollow, metallic voice
that issued from somewhere beneath the visor of the
cap. “I am no stranger, though possibly you do not
recognize me. Do you remember your rival George
Gregory, Dr. David Bell? I am he.”

“You — it is impossible,” exclaimed the amazed
doctor. “Gregory was a tall man, altogether differ-
ent in appearance. You — ”

“Nevertheless I tell you I am George Gregory and
I have come to settle old accounts with you. Clear
out,” he shouted to the frightened Stevens. “My
trouble is not with you.”

Lucius lost no time in following the stranger’s
suggestion. After his departure the two men in the
operating room faced each other for some moments
in silence.

“Before I have done with you,” came the metallic

82

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

tones again, “I will explain a few things that may
puzzle you.”

Here he walked to the office door, locked it and
put the key into the overcoat pocket. “Now, sit
down, David Bell, don't be in a hurry, for you are
not going to leave this room alive. I promise you
that, and I am accustomed to doing what I prom-
ise.”

Bell did as he was bade. The curiosity of his ana-
lytical mind was aroused and he wished to find out
more about this stranger whose identity he could in
no way associate with Gregory. Fascinated, he
watched while the man removed his cap and over-
coat, and then before David’s startled gaze the new-
comer placed his right hand to his left shoulder and
with a slight manipulation removed the left arm
which he propped up in the chair nearest him. He
then seated himself and proceeded to dismember
himself until nought but a torso, head and one arm
remained, all of which were scarred with countless
incisions. A mirthless laugh jarred to the depths
the doctor’s overwrought nerves. The features of
the intruder were not recognizable as those of his
former friend, Gregory. There was no nose, only
two nostrils flat upon the surface of the face. The
head was bald and earless, the mouth a toothless
gap.

A shudder of disgust went through David, and
again the dry laugh of this monstrosity echoed
through the room.

“I’m not exactly pretty, eh? But I’m finding out
what I wanted to know. After I left you five years
ago I went to a famous German surgeon and put my
plea to him. He was as interested as I in the ex-
periment, and you see the result. The operations
required a period of two years in order to give na-
ture a chance to have the body recuperate in the
interim between experiments. As you see me now
I am without any parts except those absolutely es-
sential to life. One exception to this however, are
my eyes. I did not yet wish to be shut off from the
outer world by all of the senses. The artificial in-
ternal organs I dare not remove as I do my appen-
dages for they are necessary to my life. The crown-
ing operation of all was a pump replacing my heart.
This pump is a simple double valve mechanism
which circulates the small amount of blood requir-
ed for my torso, head and arm. Look here !”

As he spoke he proceeded to reattach the artificial
members. After he had again thus assumed semb-
lance to human form he called attention to some-
thing David had not noticed before, a flat object
lying upon his chest.

“This is the control board,” he explained. “With
the exception of the right arm I now move my body
by electricity. The batteries are concealed within a
hollow below the hip of my right leg. Behold in me
an artificial man who lives and breathes and has his
being with a minimum of mortal flesh! My vari-
ous parts can be mended and replaced as you would
repair the parts of your automobile.”

During Gregory’s recital David had not with-
drawn his fascinated but horrified eyes from the me-
chanical man. Invulnerable and almost immortal,
this creature was existing as a menace to mankind, a
self-made Frankenstein. When he was again com-
plete he stood before David, a triumphant gleam in
the eyes which alone, unchanged physically, were

yet scarcely recognizable as Gregory’s, for the soul
that peered through these windows was trans-
formed.

In the gathering gloom Bell could see the auto-
maton staring at him. He moved slowly toward a
window hoping to elude his antagonist by a sudden
exit in that direction, but Gregory crept toward him
with a clock-like precision in his movements. The
doctor noticed that the right hand was kept busy
manipulating the control board at his chest. If this
were the case, the interloper possessed only one free
arm, but little had Bell reckoned on the prowess of
that left arm ! Like the grip of a vise the metallic
fingers clutched at his throat. One thought pervad-
ed his mind. If he could get that right hand away
from the control and damage the connections to the
various appendages and organs ! But he soon real-
ized how futile were his weaponless hands against
the invulnerable body of his adversary. Down,
down, those relentless claws bore him. The dark-
ness fell about him like a heavy curtain. A throb-
bing in his temples that sounded like a distant
pounding. Then oblivion.

The Thread Snaps

W HEN David Bell regained consciousness he
lying in his bed. The bright sunlight shining
through the curtains made delicate traceries across
the counterpane. His first thought was that this
was heaven by contrast to the events of his last con-
scious moments. Surely that was an angel hovering
above him ! No — at least not in the ethereal sense
— but an angel nevertheless, for it was Rosalind,
her sweet face beaming with love and solicitude.

“Mr. Stevens and I have been watching by your
side for hours, David dear,” she said as she placed a
cool hand upon his brow. “You have him to thank
for saving your life, not only at the time of the at-
tack, but during the uncertain hours that have fol-
lowed.”

David turned grateful eyes toward his rescuer.
“Tell me about it, Lucius,” he said quietly.
Stevens seated himself in a chair by the bedside
and proceeded with this narrative.

“After that demon you called Gregory ordered me
from the room, Dr. Bell, I turned over in my mind
what had better be done to save you from his ven-
geance. I thought it advisable to say nothing at the
time to Mrs. Bell because I did not wish to alarm
her unnecessarily, but I knew that when I forced en-
trance into the room, it must be with adequate as-
sistance, and within a very short period of time. I
made my way to the office as quickly as I could
without arousing suspicion. Miss Cullis was at the
desk. Knowing I could rely on her natural calmness
of demeanor and self-possession, I told her briefly
of the danger which threatened you, then I phoned
police headquarters. Before ten minutes were over
Copeland and Knowles had arrived armed with
automatics and crow-bars. I carried an axe. Cau-
tiously we made our way to the door of the operat-
ing room and stood without, listening. We heard no
sounds of voices and Copeland wanted to force en-
trance immediately, but I held him in temporary re-
straint. I wanted to obtain some cue as to condi-
tions on the other side of the door before taking
drastic measures. But thanks to Copeland’s impa-
tience we broke down the door and saw — I shall

THE ARTIFICIAL MAN

83

never forget the sight till my dying day — that fiend
of hell with his talons gripping your throat. He was
evidently somewhat deaf for he heard no motion of
our approach. We closed in on him from the rear,
but he swung around with such force in that left
arm that we all went down like ten-pins. Knowles,
as soon as he was on his feet again, struck him sev-
eral times with the bar, but his efforts were wasted,
for he might as well have rained blows upon a stone
wall. Copeland aimed for his head in which he
knew was encased a mortal brain, but that blow was
avoided by the monster’s ever active legs and
arms. I was reserving my axe for a telling stroke,
when it came upon me with sudden clarity of un-
derstanding, that the man governed his movements
by manipulating the fingers of his right hand upon
a place of control at his breast. His right arm and
the switch board ! These were the vulnerable parts.
At last I had found the heel of Achilles !

“While Gregory was occupied with his other two
antagonists I dealt a sudden stroke with the axe at
his right hand, but missed, the weapon falling heav-
ily upon his chest. My first emotion was disappoint-
ment at having missed my mark but in another sec-
ond I realized that the blow had disabled him. The
left arm hung useless at his side, but what prowess
it lacked was made up in the increased activity of
the legs. He ran, and never have I seen such speed.
He would have made Atalanta resemble a snail!

However, three against one put the odds too heavily
in our favor. Between lurches and thrusts at the
flying figure I managed to convey to the two police-
men my discovery in regard to his mortal points,
and we soon had his trusty right arm disabled. The
rest was comparatively easy. We dismembered
him. We did not want to kill him, but it was soon
apparent to us that the damage done to the control
board would prove fatal. He wanted to speak, but
his voice was faint, and stooping I could barely get
the words.

“ ‘Tell David,’ he said, ‘that I’ve been wrong, dead
wrong ever since I was carried off the field in that
football game. I had been right at first. Mental
perfection does make the physical harmonious, and
with the right mental attitude after that accident, I
could have risen above the physical handicap. It
was not the physical loss of my leg that brought
me to this. It was the mind that allowed it to do so.
Tell David and Rosalind I am sorry for the past,
and I wish them much happiness for the future!’
Those were his last words.”

David Bell and his wife looked at each other with
tear-dimmed eyes.

Next day the “slender thread” which had held
George Gregory to this world was laid in its last
resting place, but the soul which had realized and
repented of its error, who knows whither it went?

The End

The Next

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

will contain a tremendous interplanetarian science
fiction novel entitled :

“The Moon Conquerors”

By R. H. ROMANS

Here we have a story which is the direct op-
posite of the one in this issue of the Quar-
terly.

The author, Mr. Romans, an astronomer of
no means accomplishments, has taken a num-
ber of years to write this book, and it will be
published in its entirety in the Winter Quar-
terly. A number of most astounding inven-
tions have been made by the author, and the
stry is really three books in one. With a logic
that is at times overwhelming, it pictures a
tremendous lunar civilization ; and the picturi-

zation is so realistic and so overpowering, that
you live with the story. There is never a min-
ute when the author departs from the probable
or the possible ; for his science is always within
the bounds of reason, and the logic keeps the
pace with the adventure part of the story.

We unhesitatingly state that this is the greatest
“moon” story that has ever been written, and
you will pronounce it as such when you have
read it.

Don’t miss this epic of interplanetarian science
fiction.

IN THE WINTER SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY
On AU Newsstands December 15

And as it appeared I could see by that inset white spot of light, that the great dazzling
column was slowly turning, like a solid revolving shaft!

R7 V

ST. 1

1; I

THE HIDDEN WORLD

I T is with a strange wonder that we of earth
look back upon the thing today. It is with
awe that we remember the dark menace
that rose upon us from the hidden world — and
how it ended. Nor have I, Arnold Vance, any
less of wonder or awe than those about me, for all
that I saw that they did not, for all that I stood
where never men had stood before at the heart of
that dread mystery and menace.

For though I lived through the
vast, mounting terror of the thing
to its colossal crashing end, even
to me now it seems strange, and
wonderful, and incredible, al-
most, that the end came as it did.

Four men only were there at
the end, though a reeling world
bore witness to it when it came.

Four men — Dr. Howard Kelsall,

Clifton Darrell, Richard Fenton
and myself — who dared down into
horrors undreamed of by all
earth’s generations, who alone
penetrated into that greater hor-
ror that was rising upon the un-
suspecting earth. And now that
I take up this record of the hidden
world and of
things that cen-
tered upon it,
now that I at-
tempt to set
upon paper that
gigantic succes-
sion of events
that rushed
upon us, it is
with us four
men, that I
choose to be-
gin.

The first and
eldest, Dr.

Howard Kel-
sall, held at
that time the
post of chief
geologist of the
great Manson
Foundation, in
New York. It
was a much-
coveted posi-
tion, but Kel-
sall was conceded by all to have merited it. It is
unnecessary for me to recapitulate here the achieve-
ments that had established his reputation — his great
“double-buckling” theory of the formation of the
Rocky and Andes mountain-chains, his well-known
calculations of the shift in primeval ocean levels,
and the others. Suffice it to say that he had won a
very real fame, and that that fame had been shared
in late years by his chief assistant at the Founda-

85

tion, young Clifton Darrell. Kelsall and Darrell,
though the one was of middle-age and the other in
his twenties, were strong friends, and their friend-
ship had come to be shared also by Richard Fen-
ton and myself, two of the Foundation’s younger
physicists.

An unusual quartet of friends we made, but one
which was bound strongly together. At the time
when the manifestations from thfe
hidden world began, the time of
the appearance of the first light-
shaft at Kismaya, we four were
sharing an apartment in the east
Fifties, all of us chancing to be
without immediate families. It
was the custom of Dr. Kelsall and
myself to walk from this apart-
ment each morning to the Foun-
dation building, the other two
preferring the subway. And it
was at the end of one of these
walks, on a morning late in
March, that the first news of the
appearance of the light-shafts was
given to me, by Dr. Kelsall him-
self. We were passing up the
steps of the great gray Founda-
tion building on
that morning
when he paused
and pulled from
his pocket a
folded newspa-
per which he
tendered me.

“I forgot un-
til now to show
you this,
Vance”, he re-
marked, direct-
ing my atten-
tion to a small
article on the
folded paper’s
side. “A strange

occurrence

strange, that is,
if it isn’t the
work of some
reporter’s imag-
ination.”

I took the pa-
per and we
paused there at
the top of the steps as I read the little
article. It was but a few inches in length, a
cable dispatch dated from the little coast town of
Kismaya, lying in British East Africa, just south of
the equator. The dispatch stated that a strange
manifestation of light or force of some kind had
stricken with panic the entire population of a native
village some miles to the north, on the preceding
night. In this village, which lay almost exactly

EDMOND HAMILTON

O NCE in a while a story comes along that for sheer
daring immediately towers above the usual run of
stories.

“The Hidden World,” we believe, is such a story. From
the standpoint of originality it certainly stands unmatched.
There have been stories of the interior of our earth, particu-
larly that by Jules Verne, “To the Center of the Earth,” and
others. But this is one of the most unusual of them.

The present author, however, has found an entirely new
and most unique plan which is as original as it is daring in
its concept. A number of astronomical experts have been
consulted regarding the possibility of Mr. Hamilton’s concep-
tion and they proclaim the system possible from an astro-
nomical standpoint, although there is today no scientific in-
formation on the subject existing that would lead us to be-
lieve that a world such as Mr. Hamilton has invented, exists.
That, however, means nothing, because no one has ever pene-
trated the inside of our world or of any other world, and one
hypothesis, therefore, is as good as another.

Incidentally, the author has created a marvellous adven-
ture story in addition to making “The Hidden World” a mas-
terpiece of science fiction. It certainly is one of the most
exciting stories that it has been our good fortune to read, and
we know that you will not wish to lay down the book till you
finish it.

86

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

upon the line of the equator, incidentally, there had
been on that night two white traders also, who
vouched to the truth of the surprising though
somewhat incomprehensible story which the terror-
stricken natives told.

According to that story, it had been but a few
hours before midnight, at the edge of the assem-
blage of huts that were their habitations. There
had been no sound, no warning. A brilliant shaft
of blinding blue light had abruptly stabbed upward
from the earth at the village's edge to a height of
fifty feet. This light-shaft, they said, had been per-
haps five feet in diameter, and near its top had
been set in its blinding blue light an equally daz-
zling spot or circular portion of pure white light.
For perhaps two minutes the giant light-shaft had
towered there, the terror-stunned natives near it
frozen in fear. In those moments they had been
able to see from the circle of white light in its side,
near the top, that the brilliant shaft was turning,
was slowly turning around and around. Then sud-
denly it had sunk and vanished, the ground where
it had appeared seeming quite unchanged by its
apparition, which sent all in the fear-stricken vil-
lage racing from it.

The thing was puzzling enough, surely, and as I
handed the paper back to Dr. Kelsall I shook my
head. “It’s past me”, I told him. “Sounds like the
work of the reportorial imagination you men-
tioned.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps so, Vance”,
he said. “Though the story was corroborated by
the white men, and the truth seems quite circum-
stantial.”

The Second and Third Lights

I T must have been, though, that the casual ver-
dict which I rendered thus upon that first dis-
patch was the one given also by the world at large,
for in the days that followed no further reference
to the thing appeared in the newspapers. Such
strange phenomena, indeed, are not unfamiliar
among the dispatches of the great press-syndicates,
the greater part of them being hoaxes of one kind
or another, so it is not surprising that this particular
incident evoked no further interest. I know that I
had completely forgotten it by the next day, and
Dr. Kelsall made no reference to it in the days that
followed. It was not, indeed, until the appearance
in the press of the dispatch from Moram Island,
some twenty days later, that the first Kismaya af-
fair was jerked back to my memory and to those
of many others.

Moram Island, according to this new dispatch,
was one of the innumerable islands lying off the
western tip of Dutch New Guinea, a few miles to
the north of the equator. Besides a number of
Dutch planters and officials, it was occupied by the
brown-skinned islanders who had always lived
there, and it was from planters and islanders alike
that this second report now came. The gist of the
thing was that, a little before morning on the pre-

ceding day, a terrific beam of light had been seen
on the sea south of the island.

It had seemed miles to the south indeed, so far that
almost it must have been exactly over the equator
itself. A great perpendicular shaft of intense blue
brilliance, it had shot up from the waters southward
like a great beacon through the night, had hovered a
minute or two, and then had flashed down and out
of sight. The awed watchers on Moram Island had
thought it, at first, the beam of some ship’s search-
light, but the coming of dawn a little later had dis-
closed no craft whatever to the southward, making
the thing seem quite inexplicable.

In itself, no doubt, this second phenomenon would
have aroused but little comment, but the earlier and
similar occurrence at Kismaya now made of this
second incident something of more interest. Scien-
tists, when questioned concerning it, agreed in at-
tributing the two great light-flashes to falling mete-
ors. They doubted whether the flashes had really
lasted for minutes as reported, and also refused to
take seriously the details concerning the turning
shaft of blue light and the white circle of light upon
it that had been reported from Kismaya. A meteor-
flash, as they pointed out, is almost instantaneous,
though very brilliant. The fact that no meteor had
struck the ground at Kismaya they attributed to the
burning-up of the meteor and its total annihilation
as it flashed downward. The second surprising fact
that both flashes had taken place almost exactly up-
on the equator they explained by the assumption
that the earth was entering a thin belt or region of
meteors which happened to lie in the same plane
with our planet’s equator.

This theory, as they pointed out, meant that more
meteor-flashes might be expected in the equatorial
regions, and though the theory had its defects it
was, certainly, the most plausible one advanced.
It was true that the great steady shafts of brilliance
that had been described by the witnesses at Kis-
maya and at Moram Island were very different from
a meteor’s lightning flash downward, but that could
be accounted for by the excitement of the witnesses,
so that the whole matter seemed satisfactorily ex-
plained. In common with the few others who had
paused to read of the thing, I let it pass from my
mind. And Dr. Kelsall, to whom I knew this sec-
ond incident would be of interest, was at that time
on a short field-trip to the Adirondacks, so that at
that time I had no opportunities of discussing it
with him, and had forgotten it by the time that he
returned.

Three weeks after that second phenomenon,
though, the matter was brought forcibly back to my
mind and to the world’s by the Callarnia incident.
The Callarnia was one of those giant cruise-ships
designed to transport a thousand passengers in ut-
most luxury about the world, and at the time of the
incident was heading homeward over the central
Pacific from such a globe-circling cruise. It had
ventured, in the past months, through the Atlantic
and the Mediterranean, through the Indian and the
Pacific oceans, and as that day closed was heading

THE HIDDEN WORLD

87

east-north-eastward toward Panama on the last lap
of its trip, its position some five hundred miles north
of the Marquesas, with the equator’s line a little
north of the ship.

As the sunset of that day flared westward, there-
fore, the great ship’s passengers had gathered upon
its boat-deck, where a group of queerly - garbed
sailors were preparing 1 to perform the ancient nauti-
cal ceremonies proper to “crossing the line”. By
the time that twilight had come, indeed, those cere-
monies were already going on amid the shouts and
laughter of passengers and crew alike, the exact
line of the equator lying at that time a little toward
the north, the ship forging slowly and obliquely to-
ward it. It happened, therefore, as the dim dusk
thickened, intent upon the clowning of the group
before them, passengers and sailors alike had no
thought of the thing that was to come. No thought
until, in another moment, that thing was upon them.

A half-mile ahead of the ship there stabbed sud-
denly upward through the deepening twilight a
shaft of dazzling blue radiance that seemed to
spring up from the sea itself and that hung at a
height of fifty feet, slowly turning. Near its top
was a circle of pure white light by which that turn-
ing could be marked, and in that first stunned in-
stant as the passengers and sailors, in answer -to a
wild cry, gazed toward the blinding shaft, it seemed
to them that that shaft extended down to depths
inconceivable in the waters themselves, glimmering
faintly through them. For a minute, a minute that
seemed an eternity to them, that giant beam slowly
turned there, and then as abruptly as it had ap-
peared it had snapped down and out of existence,
leaving those on the great ship staring at each other
white-faced in the darkening dusk.

Kelsall’s Theory

S UCH was the tale the great cruise-liner’s radio
sent sputtering forth, and so related it appeared
within hours in the New York journals. And this,
the third of these strange incidents, aroused for a
short time, at least, an interest which the first two
had failed to evoke. Again the thing had happened,
and upon earth’s equator as in the first two in-
stances ! The matter seemed to many startling for
that reason, but the scientific authorities questioned
concerning it only boredly referred their questioners
to their earlier statements. The thing, they said,
was but another instance of meteor-fall as had been
the first two, and happening at the equator as they
had confirmed the theory that the earth’s equatorial
regions were in the plane of a thin meteor-belt
through which the earth was passing. The state-
ments of those on the Callarnia to the effect that
the great blue shaft of light had remained for a full
minute or two, and had slowly turned with its white
circle of light upon it, the scientists discredited.
For, as they explained, a meteor’s brilliant flash
caused by its burning up before it can reach earth’s
surface, often, is so intense as to impress the visual
nerves with a sense of duration for longer than is

really the case, and to delude them concerning its
real appearance.

This explanation, reasonable enough, was con-
curred in by those newspapers which made inde-
pendent comment on the strange triple incident.
Desirous as they were of a sensation, they were
aware that the flashing out of three brilliant light-
shafts on three far regions of earth’s surface was
of but little intrinsic interest to their readers, save
for a few of the more scientifically inclined. So
that though for a day or so they published what
comments they could gather on the Callarnia inci-
dent, the very lack of further developments in re-
gard to it could not but make it soon of no more
interest to them. And so, quickly enough, this
third strange phenomenon was forgotten by news-
papers and readers as had been the first and second.

My own interest, though, had been definitely
caught by the strange recurrence of the phenome-
non, and I resolved to discuss it with Dr. Kelsall,
who had shown such interest in its first happening.
When I reached our apartment that evening,
though, I found that Dr. Kelsall had not yet arrived
at it from the Foundation, nor was he there when
Darrell and Fenton and I returned there after
dinner. It was natural enough, however, that this
subject uppermost in my mind just then should have
entered our conversation, and we were engaged jn a
discussion of it when Dr. Kelsall finally entered.
I apprised him, briefly, of the subject of our talk,
but to my surprise when I had done so he ventured
no suggestion on the thing, but sat beside us in
silence. Gazing out beyond us, as we watched him
in silence for the moment, his strong face and keen
steel-gray eyes seeming brooding upon something,
he sat there for moments unspeaking before turning
finally toward us.

“Darrell — Fenton — Vance — ” he said, his eyes
moving over us. “It’s about this thing that I want-
ed to talk to you tonight.”

“This thing — these three light-shafts?” asked
Darrell, and Kelsall nodded.

“Yes,” he said, “these three great light-shafts,
that have flashed into being, one after another, at
three different spots around earth’s equator. And
what, in your opinion, caused those light-shafts to
appear? Meteors?”

Darrell shook his head. “No, that’s what we
were discussing when you came in, Kelsall, and
had decided that they couldn’t be meteor-flashes.
For all who saw them say, apparently, that they
were great beams or shafts of light instead of flash-
es, and no meteors were seen or heard. Yet what,
then, could have caused them?”

“I do not know that,” Kelsall said quietly. “But
one thing I do know, a thing that none other on
earth has guessed. I know where and when the
next of these enigmatic light-shafts will appear and
I propose that we four go there and solve the mys-
tery of them when it does appear !”

Astounded, we stared toward him, but then be-
fore we could ask him a question of the many that

88

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

whirled suddenly in our brain, he had turned and
had taken the small globe from the table beside
him, had turned back to us and was speaking quiet-
ly on.

“Before you can understand the thing that I have
discovered,” he said, “you must understand tho
locations in which these three strange light-shafts
have appeared on earth. Now as you know the first
light-shaft appeared just north of Kismaya in Brit-
ish East Africa, just on the equator, on the night of
March 22, two and one-half hours before midnight.
The second,” and he spun the globe a little, “ap-
peared here on the equator just south of Moram
Island, off New. Guinea. Both light-shafts, as you
know, as all noticed, appeared almost exactly upon
earth’s equator. But there is a stranger thing that
no one else noticed — and that is that the second
light-shaft appeared just one-fourth around earth’s
equator from the first !

“Strange, is it not? Yet here is something as
strange. Here at this dot I mark on the blue of
the Pacific is the latitude and longitude reported
by the Callarnia on the evening that the third light-
shaft appeared before it. That dot, that position of
the third light-shaft, is exactly another fourth
around earth’s equator from the position of the
second light-shaft, exactly a half around earth’s
equator from the first ! In other words, these mys-
terious shafts of brilliant blue light have flashed in-
to being in a regular progression around earth’s
equator, each appearing exactly upon that equator,
and each appearing exactly a fourth around earth’s
circumference, from the last one !

“Now; that being so, can it be doubted that when
the fourth light-shaft appears, it will appear in the
same regular progression, at a spot another fourth
around earth’s equator from the third? Thus one
has only to measure with accurate maps from the
position of the third light-shaft, a fourth around
earth’s equator, to find the spot where the next
light-shaft will appear! And that is what I have
done today, and doing so I found that spot. It lies
in the Brazilian jungles just north of the Amazon
River’s mouth, a spot lying between two little-
known rivers, the Malgre and the Tauraurua, which
join each other exactly at the equator. So that it is
upon the ground between those two joining rivers
there in the Brazilian jungles, that the next of these
strange light-shafts will undoubtedly appear!

“But you will say, when will it appear? Well, if
you will reread the accounts of the three light-
shafts, you will discover that each was separated by
as regular intervals of time as of space. Exactly
twenty days, and six and a half hours, elapsed be-
tween the appearance of the first light-shaft at Kis-
maya and the second at Moram Island. The same
exact interval of twenty days and six and a half
hours elapsed between the Moram Island appear-
ance and the sighting of the third light-shaft by the
Callarnia. With this regular progression in mind,
therefore, it cannot be doubted that the same inter-
val will separate the appearance of the third and
fourth light-shafts, if a fourth appears. So that we

can say positively almost that if that fourth shaft
appears it will do so twenty days and six and a half
hours from this last one, which sets as the time of
its appearance a half-hour before midnight on the
night of May 21st, more than two weeks from now.
And I propose, now, that we four be there when it
does appear !

“For who can tell what mysteries lie behind the
appearance of these strange, terrific light-shafts?
Who can tell what we four might not learn if we
were present, ready to study it? We alone of all
men know where and when it will appear, if it does
appear, and shall we not then endeavor to penetrate
their mystery? And mystery it is, I think, that lies
behind them. For how comes it that these shafts
of brilliance, which could not have been made by
any known device of men, yet have appeared around
earth’s equator with human and more than human
exactness and regularity of time and place? What
is their unfathomable cause, their purpose? To us
four is given the chance to solve these questions.
In that solution it may well be that we will pene-
trate into mysteries and into forces as yet un-
dreamed of by any on earth. And you, Darrell
and Fenton and Vance — will you not go?”

There was a moment’s silence at his final ques-
tion, a silence in which, with minds strangely awhirl
from the things that Kelsall had spoken, we gazed
at him, and at each other. Then suddenly, as our
eyes met, we knew without words each other’s
thought, and Darrell turned to Kelsall, speaking
for all of us.

“We’re with you, Kelsall,” he said quietly.
“Whatever mystery lies behind these light-shafts,
we’re going with you to solve.”

CHAPTER n

The Spheres from Below

££ A HALF-HOUR before midnight on May 21
A\ the fourth light-shaft should appear — and
that’s but six hours from now!”

It was Dr. Kelsall who spoke, and as he replaced
in his pocket the watch at which he had been glanc-
ing, we four turned for the moment from each
other, gazing about us.

Around us there stretched away in all directions
the vast green solitude of the Brazilian jungle, a
tremendous solid mass of vegetation that seemed to
lie like a great blanket over the earth. The great,
close-packed trees, the thick vines and lianas that
bound them everywhere together, the impenetrable
plant-life that choked the lower ways between them,
swarming with brilliant-hued birds and monkeys
and strange insects, with larger animals stirring
beneath — these extended out from us on all side, lit
now by the waning glory of the sunset to the west.
The whole scene about us impressed one most with
the illimitable fecundity of the life, plant and ani-
mal, with which it swarmed, and it was a fecundity
of life, so dissociated from anything human, that
it was strangely depressing.

We four, however, were standing upon an island

THE HIDDEN WORLD

in that ocean of green, thick life, a long, triangular-
shaped clearing of brown earth and sand which was
bounded on two sides by the broad, ocher floods of
two swift-running rivers, the Malgre and the Tau-
raurua. These poured together at the point of our
long triangle-clearing, continuing on their course
as one to the great Amazon away to the south. It
was somewhere on or near this triangle of land
between the two rivers, according to Kelsall’s cal-
culations, that the fourth of the strange light-shafts
would appear if it appeared at all, and so it was
toward one side of the triangle, along the Malgre’s
shore, that our brown tropical-tents were pitched,
our long river-skiff moored beside them.

It was in that long, sturdy craft, and by virtue of
its strong little motor, that we had made our way
up the Malgre to this point where the Tauraurua
flowed into it. For the swift steamer we had man-
aged to catch had brought us from New York to
Para within ten days, and then, procuring the stout
river-skiff that was large enough to hold us and all
our equipment and apparatus, we had proceeded up
the Amazon by river-steamer to the point where the

There had stabbed from the spheres other narrow beams, yellow instead of white. The
rays shot over and past Kelsall and Fenton, and we saw the ground where they struck
seemingly gouged by a giant invisible hand — a great crater scooped suddenly from it

90

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

Malgre flowed into it. There, leaving the steamer,
we had begun the most toilsome part of our jour-
ney, the slow fight upward against the Malgre’s
current, through jungles that stretched to the north
to and over the Guianas, jungles swarming with
animal life and with their only human inhabitants
a few half-glimpsed brown Indians. It was the
great wilderness of the Brazilian Guiana into which
we were penetrating, and so toilsome was our prog-
ress that had our goal been but little farther we
could never have made it before the calculated time.

As it was, it had only been on the preceding day
that we had reached this triangle of clear land.
Until the present moment we had been busy in
arranging the apparatus. That apparatus had given
us anxious moments in our rough journey upward
in the skiff, for much of it was of a super-sensitive
and delicate nature. There were black-cased camer-
as, cinema and still types, some equipped with vari-
ous ray-filters and screens. Square fluoroscopes lay
ready beside the delicate galvanometer circuits and
electroscopes that had been set up by Fenton and
myself. If a fourth great light-shaft appeared near
us, indeed, it would be strange if we four with the
comprehensive equipment which we had set up
would not be able to record the shaft’s appearance
and to determine, even though it lasted but a min-
ute or two like the others, its nature, whether elec-
trical or radio-active or simply light.

We were ready, indeed, for the coming of the
fourth light-shaft, yet now as we four stood there,
brown-garbed, white-helmeted figures with heavy
automatics swinging always at our hips, it was with
an oppressing doubt that I gazed about me. The
whole vast wild scene about us filled me with mis-
givings. Had we come, after all, on a wild-goose
chase? Had the appearance of those three light-
shafts, after all, been due only to some freak of
natural forces, the regular progression in time and
space of a mere coincidence, and had Kelsall been
far afield in his belief that here where we stood an-
other light-shaft would appear within a few hours?
These were the questions that troubled me as we
stood there together, watching in silence as the
sunset westward flared and faded, and at last, turn-
ing to the others, I expressed some of my doubts.

“The whole thing seems rather incredible, doesn’t
it?” I asked. “Incredible for us to expect a fourth
light-shaft to appear at this exact spot.”

I indicated with a wave of my hand the thick
walls of jungle that rose around our river-bordered
clearing, and Darrell and Fenton gazed silently
around at my gesture. Kelsall, though, shook his
head.

“No, Vance,” he said, “if a fourth light-shaft ap-
pears it will do so here and at a half-hour before
midnight. I’m certain of that — for the appearance
of the other three have been superhumanly exact in
time and place.”

“But there’s nothing unusual here,” I said. “We’ve
explored thoroughly all this clearing and the region
immediately around it, and we’ve found nothing un-
usual — no sign of the presence of human life, even.”

“There was nothing strange or unusual there at
Kismaya, or south of Moram Island, or before the
Cdlarnia” Kelsall reminded me, “yet the light-
shafts appeared there. And though no other hu-
mans lie within leagues of us, I think that there is
nothing human behind the mystery of these light-
shafts which we have come here to solve.”

“But our plan of action ?” questioned Darrell. “In
case the fourth light-shaft does appear it will last
only for seconds, and we’ll need to be quick if we’re
to gather any data on it in that time.”

Waiting For Midnight

K ELSALL nodded. “Yes, Darrell, and for that
reason we’ll take up separate stations when the
time approaches. I want you and Vance here to
take up a position at the north or broad end of this
triangular clearing, just at the jungle’s edge. You
will hold the two cameras, ready to turn them upon
whatever spot the fourth shaft appears, if it does
appear, Vance, who like Fenton is a physicist and
understands such work better than we, can use the
fluoroscopes to determine whether the shaft is fluor-
escent in nature. Fenton and I, on the other hand,
will station ourselves down at the clearing’s point,
on the open sand, and Fenton can watch his elec-
troscope and galvanometer circuits while I use the
spectrograph on the light-shaft. In this way if the
light-shaft appears in this vicinity as it should, even
though it lasts for but a minute or more, we should
be able to determine accurately its nature and gain
enough data to enable us later to discover its cause.”
“You have no theory yourself as to that cause,
then, Kelsall?” asked Fenton curiously. “You’ve
never ventured any to us, but you must have some
thought concerning it.”

Kelsall’s face grew grave at the question. “I have
a theory,” he said, slowly, “but not one I want to
mention now. A theory which to my mind can
alone account for the appearance of these strange
shafts of light, yet which is so startling, so insane,
almost, that even you could not take it seriously
now. But if another light-shaft appears here, if
we cannot discover its nature, it may be that the
thing that has suggested itself to me will be cor-
roborated by our evidence. And if that is so ”

He did not finish, but as Darrell and Fenton
and I stood there beside him, regarding him, some-
thing of the strange suspense, the fear almost, that
held him, was communicated to ourselves. So it
was in silence that we Stood there still, while the
last colors of the sunset faded westward, while the
deep tropical twilight stole westward across the
world like a veil drawn after the descending sun.
Swiftly then the darkness of night, soft and velvet-
like, was upon us, with the brilliant constellations
of the equatorial sky burning out brightly over-
head, with a strange tremor and stir of renewed and
re-awakened nocturnal life running through the
dark-massed jungles on all sides of us. Night was
upon us, and soon now there would be upon us also
that hour, that moment, for which we had trailed to
this spot, so now we began to follow Kelsall’s or-

THE HIDDEN " WORLD

91

ders and to arrange ourselves and our masses of ap-
paratus about the long clearing.

At the long triangular clearing’s northern end, its
broad base in effect, Darrell and I quickly set up
our cameras and fluoroscopes, just at the edge of
the thick wall of the jungle. That base or side of
our triangular clearing was perhaps three-quarters
of a mile in width, and from that jungle-bordered
base the clear triangle of ground stretched south-
ward, bordered on either side by the two swift
rivers, for a similar distance, to the long sandy
point where the two rivers converged, the triangle’s
tip. It was upon that tip now that Kelsall and Fen-
ton, in turn, set up their own apparatus, their spec-
trographs and electrical apparatus, Darrell and I
helping them and working without hamper in the
clear thin starlight that lit all the clearing. This
done, the four of us met again for the moment at
the clearing’s center, before taking up our positions
with our apparatus.

Kelsall clasped the hands of Darrell and myself
strongly. “Darrell — Vance — ”, he said, “I know
that you will do your best on this. Be ready, and if
the light-shaft does appear anywhere within sight
of us, get your instruments on it at once.”

Darrell nodded, raising his hands for the moment
to the shoulders of Kelsall and Fenton. “We’ll be
ready for it,” he said. “And if nothing happens —
well, we’ll have done our best.”

With these words, we turned, and then the four
of us had separated, Darrell and I striding toward
the clearing’s northern jungle-wall where our in-
struments lay ready, while Kelsall and Fenton
started for the sandy tip that was to be their posi-
tion. We had retained our heavy pistols, the pro-
fusion of fierce wild life in the jungles about us
making that a necessary precaution. At our posi-
tion we crouched down among our instruments. Our
last preparations had been made, and our wait for
the appearance of the fourth light-shaft began.

A glance at my watch showed me that there re-
mained still more than two hours before the com-
ing of that moment, a half-hour before midnight,
which Kelsall had calculated as the time of the next
shaft’s appearance. We had begun our watch thus
early, at his own suggestion, in case that those cal-
culations might have been a little inaccurate, and
so would be ready for the light-shaft’s appearance
even though it came an hour or so ahead of time.

We waited in silence for that thing which had
brought us to this savage and remote spot. Far
down at the clearing’s tip we could make out in the
starlight the dark, vague shapes of Kelsall and Fen-
ton, crouched likewise with their own equipment,
but they were as silent as ourselves.

I found myself listening, in that silence, to all the
myriad strange sounds that came from the thick
jungle behind us, the distant coughing snorts or
dull trampling sounds of large animals, the shrill
sounds of countless insects, the occasional swash-
ing of large lizards or reptiles in the rivers to east
and west. The sullen heat of the day, the burning
heat of the equator upon which we were, had de-

clined only a little with the coming of darkness.
And as the minutes dragged past with no other
sight or sound save those of the profusion of jungle
life about us, as the great tropical constellations
sloped majestically across the sky, to my physical
discomfort was added the return of my troubled
doubts.

The Light Appears!

I T seemed to me incredible, almost, that we four
should have found reason enough in the facts that
Kelsall had discovered to bring us to this wild spot,
far from civilization’s farthest outposts, in the an-
ticipation of witnessing a repetition of the three
phenomena that had already occurred. It seemed
insane, almost, for us to expect that a fourth of
those strange light-shafts was to appear at exactly
this spot, at the exact time that we had calculated.
And as that time slowly approached, as my watch’s
hands steadily approached to the position that
would mark the half-hour before midnight, and as
no slightest unusual sight or sound came from any-
where about us, I felt the doubt becoming stronger
and stronger.

Darrell, though, was beside me as silent and un-
moved as ever, and far down at the clearing’s tip
I could make out still the dark figures of Kelsall
and Fenton, waiting, like ourselves. With watch in
hand, now, I watched the larger hand slowly mov-
ing toward the half-hour position, only minutes re-
maining now until our calculated moment would
arrive. Slowly, minute by minute, that hand
moved, and now was within a half-dozen minutes of
the half-hour, yet from about us had come nothing
new. Now it was within four minutes, three, two,

one Tensely Darrell and I were watching it,

now, as the watch’s hand moved at last within a
single minute of the awaited moment our hands had
clenched unconsciously with suspense.

Then at last, seeming infinitely slow, the hand
had moved to the half-hour position, and with our
nerves taut with suspense, with our hands ready on
the instruments before us, Darrell and I waited,
gazing about us, gazing at — nothing! No single
gleam of light had appeared in that moment in all
the dark mass of the jungle about us and behind us,
no light-shaft or sign of one! Gazing for the mo-
ment at each other, sick with disappointment in
that moment, Darrell and I rose to our feet, while
down there at the clearing’s tip we saw Kelsall and
Fenton rising even as we did. We had failed ! Our
plan, by which we had thought to solve the mystery
of these strange light-shafts, had proved futile,
after all. I took a step forward, to go down to Kel-
sall and Fenton, disappointment wrenching still at
my heart. A single step forward I took, and then,
abruptly, I had halted in my tracks while at the
same moment there had burst a hoarse cry from
Darrell, behind me.

There before us, at the center of our great trian-
gular clearing, almost, half-way between ourselves
and our two friends at the tip, there had stabbed

92

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

suddenly upward a terrific beam of brilliant blue
light whose dazzling intensity in that moment
seemed blinding to my eyes! Fifty feet upward
from the clear ground of the Clearing it towered,
a tenth of that in diameter, and even as I shrank
back in that instant from its awful, soundless ap-
pearance, even as I heard the cries of Darrell and
Kelsall and Fenton, I had seen that near the shaft’s
top was set in some strange way a circle or disk of
pure white light, as brilliant as that about it ! And,
as it appeared, I could see by that inset white spot
of light that the great dazzling column was slowly
turning as it towered there, turning like a solid re-
volving shaft!

In the single instant of the terrific beam’s ap-
pearance I had glimpsed these things, and then had
leaped back to the black fluoroscopes which in the
next moipent I had trained upon the shaft. Beside
me I heard the rapid clicking of Darrell’s cameras,
knew that even at that same instant Kelsall and
Fenton would be working with their own instru-
ment. Because they were a modern recording de-
velopment of the old time visual fluoroscopes, I
knew that if the light before us was of a fluorescent
nature that fact v r ould be recorded instantly upon
their screens. So I swiftly exposed them, one after
another, to the great towering shaft of blue bril-
liance that loomed before us.

Surely that scene must have been one of infinite

strangeness the tropic night all about us, the

awful giant beam towering there so strange and
terrible, the figures of us four men to north and
south of it, standing out like all things about us in
its blue glare, and working like madmen in that

moment with our instruments to record all available
data. Around and around the thing turned for
more than a minute, the white-light spot upon its
blue, brilliant column moving around with each
turn. But that minute seemed to us drawn into
hours. Then abruptly, as strangely and swiftly as
it had appeared, it seemed to flash downward, to
vanish like an extinguished light, leaving us there
in a darkness that seemed deeper than before !

“It came as Kelsall thought” “but in God’s

name, man, what can it be?”

“Whatever it is we’ve got our data on it!” Dar-
rell was exulting. “And there come Kelsall and
Fenton, now .”

Kelsall and Fenton had risen and were striding
excitedly toward us, calling to us in answer to our
own shouts as Darrell and I strode to meet them.
They were within a few hundred yards of us, I
think, the ground where the great light-shaft had
appeared lying between us, when a thing happened
the mere memory of which sickens me with dread to
this day.

In one lightning instant the thing had happened.
There was a gigantic stabbing flash of yellow
light that flared for a moment blindingly before us,
and at the same instant there broke from about us a
titanic thunderous detonation that was like the
crash of colliding planets! Slammed down against
the ground by that terrific detonation, we were
aware in that instant of only the stunning light and
sound loosed before us, and then the thing was
over, an almost thunderous silence following. But
before us now, between our two groups, between
that of Darrell and myself a.nd that of Kelsall and

THE HIDDEN WORLD

93

Fenton, there yawned in the clearing’s surface the
black mouth of a great shaft or well, five hundred
feet in diameter at least, and perfectly circular in
shape ! And as Darrell and I staggered to our feet
at that giant shaft’s edge and stared downward into
it, even as Kelsall and Fenton were staring trem-
blingly down on its other side, we saw by the star-
light that fell from above into it that the great shaft
dropped down to depths inconceivable, endless!

I think that in that moment as we stared down
into the black and awful depths of that circular
abyss we were too stunned in all our senses to com-
prehend even what thing lay before us. Mechanic-
ally, unthinkingly, we stared down into the great
shaft, noting only in that moment that it was as
perfectly cylindrical in shape as though bored by a
giant drill, that its smooth sides, cut unerringly
through rock and soil alike, fell vertically downward
to a point where even the white starlight from
above could not illumine the tenebrous depths!
Then, as we stood there, I cried out inarticulately,
pointed downward.

In the awful blackness of the great shaft’s depths
a tiny point of white light had appeared, and was
growing larger! And even as we gazed down to-
ward it with minds reeling from the import of the
thing we saw, we glimpsed other light-points ap-
pearing beside and around it, other little white
lights there far, inconceivably far, beneath, growing
larger with each second as at immense speed they
rushed up toward us ! Growing larger until in mo-
ments more, as we gazed there, we could see that
those white lights were flashing, brilliant white
beams, beams that were flashing upward from
great dark round objects that were racing up the
shaft toward us ! And in the next moment we rec-
ognized them as great metal spheres !

Each a full twenty-five feet in diameter, and
massed together in a swarm of a full hundred or
more, they were rocketing up the shaft toward us !
From each of them flashed a white beam of bril-
liant light by means of which they held their course
straight upward through the great shaft! Racing
up toward us at speed unthinkable ! And as they
shot up toward us, with a humming sound, there
came to my stunned ears a wild cry from Kelsall,
standing there across the great shaft’s rim from
ourselves.

“Spheres!” he was crying madly. “Sphere-ships

from inside the earth! Darrell Vance 1 see

it all now, the light-shafts, this opening, the spheres

get back, for God’s sake, get back from the

shaft!”

CHAPTER III
The Things of Flesh !

T HE next moment, as Kelsall’s wild cry
echoed in our ears, I was aware only of Dar-
rell beside me clutching my arm, jerking me
back, and of a wild, nightmare rush toward the wall
of the jungle north of us which we had left a few
minutes before! I glanced back for one instant,
glimpsed Kelsall and Fenton running back from
the great shaft, running back toward the clearing’s
tip, Darrell and I almost to the jungle’s dark mass,
were flinging ourselves toward it with one last
effort. And as we did so I heard a sudden hum-

ming in the air behind us, and then even at the mo-
ment that we hurled ourselves inside the jungle’s
thick cover I had half-turned and had seen that the
swarming metal spheres, their white beams flashing
still, were emerging from the shaft into the open
air!

The next instant their great swarm or mass was
halting, hanging there above the shaft, and their
beams of light were stabbing and circling swiftly in
all directions through the night, questing and
searching. Crouched there in the thick undergrowth
behind the trunk of a great tree, we realized that
our bolt to the jungle’s protection had saved us, for
they had apparently not glimpsed us. But as we
crouched there in that moment, I glimpsed Kelsall
and Fenton running still toward the clearing’s tip,
over its bare surface, and then dozens of the circling
beams had caught the two running men in their
illumination and as they did so scores of the hov-
ering spheres were leaping through the air toward
them !

Instantly Darrell and I were on our feet, were on
the point of leaping back out from our cover, for
the spheres flashed after the running Kelsall and
Fenton there had stabbed from them other narrow
beams, yellow instead of white. These yellow rays
shot over and past our two friends, striking the
ground just beyond them, and as' they did so we
saw the earth where they struck seemingly gouged
by a giant invisible hand, a great crater scooped
suddenly from it where those rays struck, while at
the same instant there came to our ears a bursting
detonation, of sound ! As the ground before them
vanished thus, seeming to disappear simply before
us with the speed of light, Kelsall and Fenton
halted, stunned, and then the yellow rays had
snapped out and the rushing spheres had completely
surrounded our two friends, had come swiftly to the
ground in a circle about them !

Darrell jerked me back down into our cover.
“Wait, Vance!” he whispered tensely. “They
haven’t harmed Kelsall and Fenton yet — wait here
and maybe we can save them yet !”

Down again into our sheltering undergrowths we
crouched, and then as we gazed forth could see by
the clear starlight that the globes which had come
to rest around our two stunned friends were more
than a score in number, the remaining scores of the
great spheres hanging still over the great shaft.
Now, as we gazed with hearts hammering, we saw
that in those metal spheres were transparent circles
or windows. In the ones around Kelsall and Fenton
round sections of the curved metal spheres were
swinging open, doors opening. Then out through
those doors from the interior of the spheres there
had moved toward our two friends some scores of
creatures, creatures at the sight of which Darrell
and I clutched each other’s arms with sudden fierce
intensity, our brains spinning.

For the creatures that moved out of those spheres
into the clear starlight and the light of the circling
beams were surely such as men had never looked
upon before. They were, each of them, a great white
mass of flesh that seemed shapeless and sack-like,
almost, a mass fully seven feet in height and half
that in width, the upper part of the flesh-mass tap-
ering a little in width. Each was upheld by two
thick and equally shapeless lower limbs, each half

94

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

the thickness of the body it supported and each
hardly more than a foot in length. Just above
these limbs, at the foot of the shapeless body-mass,
there projected the two equally short and thick
upper limbs or arms, each ending in two tapering
tentacles or feelers. Above these grotesque arms
towered the great white mass of the body itself, and
set in the upper part of that headless body, directly
in its white mass, were the only features visible, a
single dark and saucer-like eye inches across and
circular in shape, with beneath it a horizontal row
of seven small round apertures in the body which
seemed the thing’s mouth.

Such were these things that moved out of the
spheres toward the motionless Kelsall and Fenton,
as horror-stricken as Darrell and myself. And as
they moved out I saw that it was only with great
effort that they moved, that their strange thick
limbs seemed to buckle and bend beneath them,
and that to all appearances they were quite bone-
less-, as I was to learn later was the truth. Great
things of flesh with no skeleton or bones of any
kind within them, great headless things moving
slowly, half-dragging themselves forward, out of
their spheres toward our two friends ! I saw, even
through the daze of horror that had settled upon
me, that a number of those flesh-creatures held
within the tentacled grasp of their strange arms
small cubes of the same metal as their spheres, and
could comprehend by the carefulness with which
they kept the cubes held toward Kelsall and Fenton
that they held the same terrible yellow rays that we
had seen gouge so swiftly and incomprehensibly
that crater in the earth.

Captured

B UT now, though, while Darrell and I gazed forth
transfixed with horror, we saw that the great
flesh-things were regarding our friends fixedly with
their great single staring eyes. Kelsall returned-
their stare, trembling a little, and I could see Fen-
ton’s hand steal down to the automatic at his hip,
then move away from it as though he realized that
to use it would mean certain death instantly for
Kelsall and himself. Then from the foremost of the
great flesh-things, who swayed there with his ef-
forts to hold his great weight erect upon his thick
and boneless limbs, there came a strange succession
of high, whistling sounds, sounds that seemed to
have their origin in the row of seven small open-
ings beneath his eye. It was as though the thing
was expelling air through those openings to produce
those whistling sounds, rising and falling swiftly in
modulations which made it evident enough that the
creature was speaking, speaking in his own strange
way to our friends.

To that whistling speech, though, neither Kelsall
or Fenton made reply, simply shaking their heads in
a very evident gesture of lack of understanding
which must have been read correctly by the creature
before them. For a moment longer he contem-
plated them, then turned a little and directed for
a brief moment his whistling speech at some of
the other great flesh-things about him. At once
they moved forward, moving with infinite efforts
as though their great weight had been suddenly
increased to a point where they could only move it
and hold it erect by great efforts. Toward Kelsall
and Fenton they moved, and then, as we stared

with hearts pounding from our cover, we saw that
they had grasped our two friends and were propel-
ling them toward the open door of one of the rest-
ing spheres!

As comprehension of that action’s meaning came
to us, as we understood in another moment that
these strange creatures were bent upon taking
Kelsall and Fenton, prisoners, down to whatever
strange depths they had risen from, Darrell and I
uttered low exclamations, at the same moment
straightening and taking a step forward from our
cover. Another moment, I knew, we would have
burst forth into the starlight of the clearing in a
wild effort to rescue our two friends, regardless of
the death that must have rewarded such an at-
tempt. But as we straightened there, as Kelsall
was marched toward the open sphere with his com-
panion, I saw him gaze for the moment in our
direction, a furtive glance as though to assure him-
self of our escape. And when his eyes discerned
our two figures there, on the point of rushing out
to him, we saw him make a swift and surreptitious
gesture toward us, a gesture that as plainly as
words warned us back! A moment we stood irre-
solute in the face of that gesture, the attention of
the flesh-things in the clearing upon our two friends,
and then as calmer second-thought came to us and
made us recognize the hopelessness of such an
attempt, we sank back into our cover.

Crouched there, Darrell’s hand gripping my
shoulder tightly, we watched as Kelsall and Fenton
were ordered inside the sphere before them. Then
there followed them inside a number of the flesh-
creatures, the door was closed and with a sudden
hum of power the sphere and those resting about
it rose upward. The great metal globe that con-
tained our two captured friends moved with a
half-score others downward, into the great shaft
with swiftly mounting speed, and out of our sight.
Whatever strange and unsuspected world within
earth’s depths these flesh-monsters had come from,
it was back down toward that world, we knew, that
Kelsall and Fenton had now been taken!

“Captured!” My whisper as we crouched there
was one of hopeless despair. “Captured — Kelsall
and Fenton — and God knows into what horrors
beneath they’ve been taken!”

“Steady, Vance,” whispered Darrell beside me.
“Our one chance to get Kelsall and Fenton free,
to get ourselves free, is to keep from being discov-
ered by these things now.”

Darrell’s caution to me came none too soon, for
now with the other spheres and that holding our
friends having disappeared down into the shaft,
the great mass of spheres hanging above the clear-
ing was moving again. Still more than a hundred
in number, the humming of their operation sound-
ing to our ears like the droning of a great bee-
swarm, they were moving off in different direc-
tions, were taking up a new formation. That
formation was one of a great ring, a ring that ex-
panded until it formed a circle of perhaps a mile
diameter of which the clearing and the shaft was
the center. In that ring the hundred spheres moved
slowly and steadily, one taking the place of the
other so that they held always that formation,
circling slowly and smoothly over the jungles. It
was plain enough, then, that these hundred circling
spheres were guarding that shaft, were watching

THE HIDDEN WORLD

95

all the country directly around it for possible in-
truders, their white beams searching downward
and outward as they hummed on in their ceaseless
watch.

Three of the great spheres, though, had separ-
ated from the others when they took up that form-
ation, and had descended until they had come to
rest at equal distances from each other around the
great shaft’s rim, one of them being on the side of
that rim nearest ourselves. Then as Darrell and I
watched them intently, the round doors of those
three spheres had opened and out from them, slow-
ly and with great efforts, had emerged a half-dozen
or more of the flesh-monsters from each, two or
three of the things remaining in each sphere. These
grouped together at the great pit’s edge, and as
they stared down into it with their strange great
eyes we heard the whistling sounds of their con-
versation with each other. They, and their three
spheres, showed no signs of reascending, and it
was clear that those three globes and their occu-
pants had been deputed to guard the immediate
mouth of the shaft while the hundred others pat-
rolled watchfully all the country around it.

Theories and Conjectures

D ARRELL and I, crouching there, saw thus that
we had no chance whatever of escaping from
our present position. For even there in the dark-
ness, in the dense jungle, we were forced to crouch
lower to the earth every few minutes or so as one
of the white beams from the circling spheres above
and about us would cut down through the night
and through the jungle about us. It would be im-
possible, we knew, to attempt to win free by crawl-
ing back through that jungle, since across it there
lay here and there other clearings in which would
be no shelter from the searching beams and blast-
ing yellow rays of the spheres. Also, neither Dar-
rell nor I would have left then the great shaft it-
self, down into which we had seen our two friends
taken.

So, hidden there, we watched, still somewhat
dazed by the thing that bad befallen us, the great
creatures in the clearing before us. They had turned
from the shaft, and were examining the spectro-
graphs and electrical apparatus at the clearing’s
tip which had been used by Kelsall and Fenton on
the appearance of the fourth light-shaft. All of
this apparatus they brought back to the shaft’s
mouth, and then glimpsing the cameras and ftour-
oscopes lying a little out in the clearing from Dar-
rell and myself, were dragging themselves toward
these also. We melted farther back into the dense
growths as they came near, saw them gather up
that apparatus also and carry it back to the great
shaft’s edge, never suspecting our presence there
in the growths so near them. Then, after examin-
ing our tent and equipment by the river’s edge,
they seemed satisfied for the time, and settled
themselves heavily about their spheres, conversing
in their whistling speech-sounds.

Now too the brilliant constellations far above
seemed fading a little as there welled up eastward
the gray light of dawn, spreading a pallor over all
the heavens. Flushing to rose, and then to crim-
son with the trprush of the red 1 tropical sun, the
skies overhead marked the coming of day, and as
Darrell and I glimpsed now the dark metal spheres

of the flesh-creatores circling hummingly still over-
head, we saw that their searching white beams of
light had been snapped out. In the clearing there
lounged still, though, grouped watchfully enough
about their spheres, the score or so of the flesh-
monsters visible there, seeming even more gro-
tesque and terrible in appearance in the light of
day than they had been by night. And as day shed
its light upon them and upon us, as we burrowed
deeper into the thick vegetation with the coming
of its revealing light, the daze of astounded horror
that had been upon us since the first terrific blast-
ing of the shaft and uprush of the spheres seemed
to lift for the first time in some portion from our
brains.

“Darrell,” I whispered, “where in God’s name
have these things come from? The four light-
shafts — this great opening from beneath — the
spheres and these things in them — what does it all
mean ?”

He shook his head. “It’s incredible — unbeliev-
able,” he said. “But we saw them come up through
that shaft they blasted upward — we saw them take
Kelsall and Fenton back down — down to their
world — ”

“But what is that world?” I asked. “It’s impos-
sible that these things should have come from some
vast space inside our earth — yet what other theory
can account for them?”

“God knows, Vance. But it seems as though they
might have come from some strange space inside
earth, for they can move only with great efforts
upon earth as though accustomed to a gravitational
power far less than that on the surface.”

His reasoning was correct and I could only shake
my head as he had done, as stunned and over-
whelmed by the utter strangeness of the thing.
And as we stared forth into the sunlit clearing at
the monsters and spheres about the shaft there, dur-
ing the slow hours of that morning, that strangeness
and that mystery loomed larger and larger in my
mind. What and from where were these incredible
flesh-creatures before us? Were they indeed from
some vast space within the earth? I had heard
the possibility of such spaces discussed many times,
and always it had been proved by geologists that no
such spaces, even if they did exist, could hold any
form of life, since with each foot that one pene-
trated downward into earth its interior heat became
greater, more unbearable. And if this were so, as
it was so, even in the first few miles which were all
that man had ever scratched into earth’s surface,
terrific and annihilating temperatures must reign
at earth’s heart.

It had long been known, indeed, that earth’s tem-
perature increased approximately a degree for each
sixty or seventy feet that one descended, and that
meant that at a depth of a few dozen miles all matter
must be in a molten condition, flaming with fiery
heat. That theory, indeed, was directly borne out
by the numberless volcanoes upon earth’s surface
in past and present, each of which flung up from
time to time masses of the molten rock from earth’s
fiery interior. How, then, could any great space
exist in earth's molten interior, how was it possible,
(even were such space by some miracle to exist),
for life to exist inside it at the tremendous tempera-
tures that reigned there? It was well enough for
fancy to conjure up great caverned spaces and

96

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

peoples inhabiting them inside earth’s great mass,
but the undisputable fact of the molten fires made
them impossible.

Yet at the same time we had forced upon us the
equally undebatable fact that it was from a space
or world within earth’s mass, that these strange
flesh-creatures had risen upon us. And how, in the
face of what we knew, could such a space or world
exist? And, greater mystery still, if such a great
space inside earth existed, it must lie beneath our-
selves, since it was straight up from beneath that
these creatures had blasted their great shaft. Yet
it was not only here that the great light-shaft had
appeared, but at three other places located with
super-mathematical precision at three spots exactly
on earth’s equator like this one, all four being equi-
distant exactly from each other! And what had
been the purpose of those four strange columns of
light, and why had the fourth only been followed
by the blasting of a shaft upward ? And, above all,
what was the purpose of the flesh-monsters in burst-
ing up to earth’s surface in their spheres, in guard-
ing now so watchfully the great shaft that was their
passageway ?

Tortured Hours

I T seemed to me during the seemingly-endless
hours of that day that those questions were mak-r
ing of my mind a mere chaos of wild suggestions
and counter-suggestions. The whole strange thing
that had occurred, that was occurring, was so utter-
ly alien to the natural course of events, so utterly
inexplicable by any natural reasons, that it was only
with an effort that I could consider it even in the
hope of finding some explanation. And as explana-
tion there was none, I could only give the thing up
at last, ceasing my attempts to comprehend, and
concentrating my scattered thoughts as well as pos-
sible upon the predicament in which we now found
ourselves.

That our situation was in truth a desperate one
was more and more apparent to us every hour. For
as the burning sun slowly traversed its path across
the heavens overhead, blazing down upon us and
all about us with its full blistering heat, we saw
that escape was as remote as ever. The great flesh-
monsters in the clearing, whom I had hoped the
sun’s heat would drive to the shelter of their
spheres, seemed quite unaffected by it. It was a
thing that puzzled me somewhat, since it seemed
to me that creatures from some cavernous and sun-
less space beneath would needs be almost seared to
death by the scorching rays of the equatorial sun,
but it was apparent that those rays harmed them
not at all. And high overhead the great ring of
circling spheres still patrolled watchfully, still
hummed here and there in their watch of the coun-
try around their great shaft, so that to break from
our retreat though for but a moment would be sui-
cide.

Yet suicide it seemed to Darrel and myself to
stay in that retreat, as the slow hours of that day
dragged past. For we knew that not much longer
could we stand this killing combination of heat,
hunger and thirst. Our lack of water, indeed, we
appeased a little by chewing a twig from time to
time, but our hunger was steadily growing and the
heat of the blazing sun above was penetrating down
to us and making us somewhat dizzy. Once, I re-

membered, I returned to realization of my surround-
ings from such a giddiness to find myself standing
erect, and would have stumbled into the clearing
had not Darrell held me back. Yet the great white
monsters there at the shaft’s mouth remained there
still as watchfully as ever, their cube-containers of
the yellow ray always in their grasp or at hand.
Once we saw them draw out from their spheres flex-
ible ipetal tubes which they inserted in the small
holes or apertures that seemed in each their mouths,
and guessed that they were feeding, were drawing
from containers or reservoirs in the spheres some
liquid or semi-liquid food.

Save for this incident, though, there was no break
in the deadly monotony of the hours, and as after a
time that seemed an age we saw the sun settling
westward, my tortured state of mind became all
but unbearable. It was the fate of Kelsall and Fen-
ton that to Darrell and myself was the most
agonizing feature of our situation, the fact that we
had no shadow of idea of what our two friends
might, even then, be undergoing in some strange
hellish world beneath. Numbed, almost, by the
agony of that day’s hours, we glimpsed the sunset
flaming westward, bringing to my mind the sunset
of the day before now seemingly removed from us
now by the space of a thousand years. And then,
as night crept again swiftly across the world, the
great ring of scores of circling spheres above had
snapped into being again their white stabbing
searchlight-beams, keeping still their never-ceasing
and enigmatic watch, while the three spheres
around the great shaft sent their own beams stab-
bing forth to bathe all the clearing about them in
white light also.

Sunken into a strange torpor of despair there,
Darrell and I were roused shortly after the com-
ing of the night by a sudden swift flurry of action
in one of the rivers north of us. There had been
the swash of some great reptile in its waters and
at that sound from one of the circling spheres above
a narrow yellow ray had cut down toward the
creature, blasting it instantly from existence with
a sharp detonation, the spheres above taking no
chance whatever of any approaching their shaft. I
had seen that yellow beam stabbing downward, had
guessed, incidentally, its nature by then, surmising
it to be some form of electronic stream shot with
intense concentrated power. This, as I was later
to learn, was its real nature, the yellow ray being
in effect a highly concentrated stream of indepen-
dent electrons, which were gathered in a special
de-atomizing chamber and then shot forth in that
concentrated stream with terrific power. It was
thus very much similar in some ways to the well-
known Coolidge or cathode ray of our own scien-
tists, but being immeasurably more concentrated
and forceful had upon all matter it touched an
annihilating effect.

Desperate Chance

T HE yellow electron-stream, indeed, was of such
force as to wreck completely the atomic struc-
tures of all matter it touched, by smashing the re-
volving electrons of that matter’s atoms into their
central protons or knocking them completely loose
from those protons, thus in an instant destroying
the matter touched by the ray by transforming it
into a comparatively tiny scattered swarm of pro-

THE HIDDEN WORLD

97

tons and loose electrons. It was by means of a
similar ray of gigantic size and power, as I had
divined even then, that the flesh-monsters had
pierced their great shaft upward to earth’s surface
in a single moment. And as I was later to dis-
cover, it was the same ray in an altered form that
was used to drive the great spheres at such speed
through the air, a projector at the rear of each
sphere shooting forth a somewhat less powerful and
fan-like ray into the air behind. This weaker and
broader ray, invisible because of its weakness, had
not enough force or concentration to destroy the
air behind it with its broad electron-stream, but
shot forth that electron-stream at a great enough
speed against the air’s atoms to result in a definite
push against them, that push being utilized at each
moment to send the sphere driving forward, its
direction being altered by changing the direction of
the rear-projector, while its speed was altered by
increasing or decreasing the force of the electron-
stream shot backward.

Even in our watch so far Darrell and I had di-
vined some of these facts, but now as I saw the
yellow ray stab downward to the north of us it was
not they that held my interest most but the thing
which the ray’s sudden stab downward had in that
moment suggested to me. I turned swiftly to
Darrell and then in a tense whisper was outlining
to him the plan that had suggested itself to me.
Mad enough that plan was, but I felt that it held
our only chance of action, since well I knew that not
another day could we lie in our retreat fighting
against the combined influences of the heat and
our hunger and thirst and mental agony. So that
it was with conviction enough that I told Darrell
that the scheme, wild as it was, held our only
hope.

“It’s our one chance, Darrell,” I whispered.
“Our one chance to get down that great shaft — 1
to follow Kelsall and Fenton into whatever strange
world they’ve been taken and rescue them, bring
them back!”

Darrell slowly nodded. “We’ll have to try it,
Vance. If we could get free — could warn the world
of the coming of these things from beneath and
the menace that that coming must mean to the
world — we’d do so swiftly enough. But there’s no
chance for us to get free of this place with all those
spheres above, and there is a chance to get down
the shaft.”

“It’s so, Darrell,” I said. “And if we can^get
down there, bring Kelsall and Fenton back with
us, we should be able to break through these guard-
ing spheres here then and carry to the world the
truth as to what mysteries or menaces lie beneath.”

We were silent both for a moment, as a little to
the north and above a sphere hummed past with
white beam circling, and then Darrell’s hand and
my own had clasped there in the darkness strongly.
Then, half-rising, I began to carry out our risky
plan of action. Turning a glance first upon the
things in the clearing, I saw that the three spheres
rested still around the great shaft, the flesh-monsters
grouped still around and partly within those
spheres, whose white beams bathed all the clear-
ing. If we were to steal one of those spheres, as
we planned now to do, we must get those great
creatures away from them, if only for a moment,
and to achieve that purpose I moved silently now

in the darkness on the ground and in the growths
about us.

In a moment my groping fingers had encountered
that for which they sought, a long and heavy sec-
tion of dead limb that lay rotting in the mold be-
side us. I grasped it tightly, and then Darrell and
I were creeping from our place of concealment in
the thick brush, were creeping out until we crouched
down just at the clearing’s edge, our eyes upon the
group of spheres and flesh-monsters at its center,
around the shaft’s mouth. For a moment we waited
there with all our nerves taut, waited until the
humming spheres that came and went high above
seemed for the moment to have passed over and
beyond us; and then, half-raising myself for the
moment again, I whirled the big length of wood
silently around my head and then threw it with
all my force toward the river west of us, into which
it splashed loudly, that splash seeming tremendous
to my strained ears in the comparative silence that
had lain over all about us.

Instantly as that loud splash sounded the flash-
monsters around the spheres had raised themselves,
listening, and then the next moment were hurry-
ing with great, dragging efforts across the clear-
ing toward the river west of it, forsaking the spheres
for the moment to investigate the source of that
splashing noise, their ray-cubes ready in their
grasp. Tensely we watched as they hastened in
that direction, and saw that in only one of the
spheres, that nearest us, did there seem still to be
any of the creatures, those two remaining inside
as though to guard their spheres. The remainder
of the flesh-creatures, already, were half-way to the
river, and Darrell and I saw instantly that to over-
come the two creatures whom we could glimpse in
the nearest sphere was our single chance, so, si-
lently but as swiftly as possible, we crept out into
the clearing and the white light that lay across it,
toward that nearest sphere!

The Chance Wins

A S we crept out into that white light, our auto-
matics ready now in our grasp, I heard the
whistling speech of the creatures that were almost
to the river’s edge, and prayed that none might
turn back toward us, that none of the spheres might
hum down over us in those seconds. On toward
that nearest sphere we were moving, half-crawling
and half-running, keeping out of line with its round
open door so that the two creatures inside might
not glimpse us. It was the sphere furthest from
the creatures at the river-bank, and in the moments
that we crept toward it we kept its great round
gleaming bulk as well as we could between us and
those creatures. Hearts pounding with excitement
and suspense, we neared the sphere, and as though to
favor our venture the humming spheres that came
and went above seemed to have expanded their
ring still further or to be hovering over the land
around the clearing for that moment rather than
over the clearing itself. I could glimpse their flash-
ing white beams high in the darkness to north and
south, could glimpse too the unchanging white stars
above, and then could hear the whistling speech-
sounds of the two flesh-monsters inside the sphere
as we crept nearer toward its open door.

Another moment and we were just outside that
round door’s opening, were peering for a moment

98

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

within it. The sphere’s interior, we saw, was di-
vided into compartments by square dividing walls
within it, and we saw, too, that from the round door
a narrow little corridor led across the sphere’s mass
toward a small control-room on its opposite side,
one in which we could glimpse the switches and
strange instruments that controlled the great
sphere’s operation. The door was near the ground,
the corridor through the sphere slanting upward
somewhat, and it was in this corridor that the two
flesh-monsters were standing for the moment, their
backs toward us, gazing in the other direction
through the transparent wall or window of the con-
trol-room to the river-bank where their fellows
were now hastening.

Without a sound Dar-
rell and I crept through
the door’s round opening
into the corridor behind
the two great creatures,
noting that each held in
its grasp one of the
ray-cubes also. Up the
corridor’s slanting floor,
into the sphere, we mov-
ed toward them, and an-
other moment would
have seen us directly up-
on them, but at that in-
stant Darrell’s foot slip-
ped upon the upward-
slanting floor of the
metal-sided corri-
dor, and as he fell
the two creatures
had whirled in-
stantly toward
us! But even as
they did so, even
as their great
single staring
eyes saw us and
their strange
arms flashed u p
with the ray-
cubes in their
grasp, we had
leaped upon
them, and then
before they had
time to give
warning to their
fellows with a
single whistling

cry were grappling with them there in a swift, mo-
mentary battle of intense fury!

I felt the great mass of the monster with whom I
struggled pressing down upon me even in the first
moment that I gripped it, felt its thick strange arms
reaching to grip me, or to bring the metal cube of
the yellow ray into play. But the creature seemed
capable of moving each big arm or limb only with
an effort, and before it could crash me down to
the floor I had raised the pistol in my hand, had
pressed its muzzle in a single instant upon the
thing’s white flesh-mass just between the great
staring eye and the horizontal row of holes that
was the mouth, and then as I pressed the trigger
there was a muffled report and the great mass be-

fore me tumbled downward, carrying me to the cor-
ridor’s floor with it. I sprang up, though, to find
the other monster had borne Darrel! against the
wall with all its great weight, but then at the same
moment as mine Darrell’s pistol had come up
against the creature’s body and as two muffled re-
ports sounded simultaneously from our weapons it
too fell. But this one, in the instant before it fell,
had given vent to a great high whistling cry!

Instantly that cry was answered by other cries
from the mass of flesh-monsters at the river’s edge,
and as we thrust the two lifeless creatures before
us out of the sphere, we saw those others rushing
madly across the clearing toward us! I shouted
hoarsely to Darrell at that sight, sprang down the

sphere’s little
corridor into the
control-room a t
its end, cast for a
moment an agon-
ized glance
around that little
room. The whole
curving front of it
was one great
transparent win-
d o w , through
which I could see
the flesh - mon-
s t e r s hobbling
themselves t o -
ward us with all
the power of their
unwieldy, drag-
ging bodies. They
had not loosed
upon us the rays
of the cubes they carried, think-
ing, no doubt, that in the sphere
were still their two fellows, and
now as they came across the
clearing with clumsy haste I sur-
veyed swiftly the controls of the
sphere that lay before me.

The main feature of those con-
trols seemed to be a row of metal
studs set into a low panel, in
front of which there rose from
the floor two low metal standards
upon the top of each of which
horizontally a small

Darrell sent our yellow ray stabbing upon them. As they ^ , , , T -Z. . T . ,

hit, the spheres melted abruptly and vanished. metal wheel. In an instant I had

grasped these wheels, was turn-
ing them, twisting them, but
there came no response from the great sphere’s
mechanism and in another moment the flesh-
creatures outside, I knew, would reach us ! I
heard Darrell shout something to me, reached for-
ward then in desperation and began snapping out
the studs in the panel, one after another, and then
as I tried the centermost of those studs there came
suddenly a welcome and powerful humming from
somewhere in the sphere beneath us. But outside
now there were whistling cries, as the flesh-mon-
sters rushed over the last few yards of the clearing
toward our sphere’s door, and I heard Darrell’s gun
cracking as he strove to hold them back. For an
instant they fell back before his fire, but then, see-
ing through the door that the sphere held none of

THE HIDDEN WORLD

99

their fellows, they were raising their deadly cubes
toward us!

At the moment that the cubes came up in their
grasp, though, my hands had flashed back to the
two wheels, turning them again, and as the first of
them turned beneath my hands the great bulk of
our humming sphere jerked suddenly up and for-
ward, up and forward over the great black mouth
of the mighty shaft! Hanging above its black
depths in that moment I heard cries from the flesh-
creatures below, glimpsed them running suddenly
toward their two other spheres at the shaft’s edge,
heard the clang of our own sphere’s round door as
Darrell slammed it shut. Then the next moment I
had whirled over the central wheel, and then even
as from the running flesh-creatures a dozen yellow
beams stabbed toward us, our great sphere had
plunged suddenly downward ! Downward into the
blackness of that shaft, at the sphere’s full speed,
downward toward whatever mighty mystery or
menace it was that lay below!

CHAPTER IV
Down the Shaft

I N that first moment, as we flashed down at such
speed into the great shaft’s darkness, all my
efforts were bent upon the single object of keep-
ing our down-plunging sphere from crashing into
the shaft’s sides. The white beams of light that
stabbed from our sphere were the one guide to me
in that moment, the one means of judging our
distance from the shaft’s sides. Those sides, as seen
in our beams’ light, were but a swift blur of matter
to our eyes, for at the awful speed with which our
sphere was whirling downward nothing more of
them was to be seen. And as I hunched there over
the twin control-wheels, whose use I had half-
learned and half-divined in those first awful mo-
ment’s of the great sphere’s rush, it seemed impos-
sible that ever, unused as I was to its operation, I
could keep our round vehicle from crashing against
the walls of the great well into which we were
plunging.

Gripping those wheels, though, having found that
one was to control the direction of the sphere’s
motion and the other its speed, I strove to keep our
great globe rushing straight downward. In an-
other moment I found that one of the myriad
strange instruments placed above the panel of studs
was in the nature of a flight-level indicator, and
found that by keeping the red dot that moved along
this instrument’s graduated length exactly at its
center, I was keeping the sphere falling exactly
downward. With this discovery I breathed a little
easier, then suddenly stiffened again as Darrell,
who was crouching beside me, gave a sudden
startled cry. He was pointing upward, through the
upper portion of our curving control-room window.

“Above us, Vance!” he was crying. “Two
spheres— they’re pursuing us down the shaft!”

I felt for an instant an extreme terror as I gazed
up. For there in the darkness of the shaft above
us, that awful darkness that seemed to hem us in
on all sides and down into which at terrific speed
we were falling, there were stabbing and circling
beams of white light like those from our own sphere.
I remembered my last glimpse of the flesh-creatures
running toward the other two spheres, now I under-

stood that without waiting to give the alarm to
the great patrol overhead, they had rushed down
after us to destroy us here in the great shaft !

Instantly I whirled again the speed-wheel and
as the humming beneath us waxed suddenly deeper
our great sphere shot ahead faster and faster. It
seemed straining beyond its normal speed in its
wild rush straight toward the center of the earth.
But above the white beams were dropping nearer
to us, overtaking us, operated as they were by the
flesh-creatures who understood them far better
than I. They had means of increasing the speed
that I was unaware of. For minutes we rushed
down, pursuers and pursued plunging at a speed
that was slowly causing the sphere to become hotter
and hotter. Down into and through darkness un-
imaginable. Then as they drew steadily closer, the
two spheres suddenly shot two narrow yellow rays
stabbing down toward us!

“The yellow rays!” I cried hoarsely to Darrell,
as I swervedtmr down-rushing sphere almost to the
great shaft’s side to evade them. “The rays — they
mean to get us with the rays !”

“Not if we can strike back at them!” he shouted.
“If I could find the control of our own sphere’s
rays — could fight them back !”

He was examining frantically the myriad strange
instruments and switch-batteries that were set in
the little control-room’s sides. In another instant,
their rays were shot down toward us again, their
white light-beams holding us in their glare now.
But with another wild swerve of the sphere I
managed to escape those twin shafts of destruction.
That time, though, I had almost crashed the sphere
into the other up-rushing wall of the great shaft,
I knew that not for many moments could we con-
tinue to escape them thus.

Then came another shout from Darrell, and I
turned to see that he had gripped a strange control
set beside the control-room’s window, a metal globe
that was a tiny replica of our great rushing globe,
with small studs set at six equi-distant points on
its spherical surface.

Darrell pressed upon the stud at the little sphere’s
top, and as he did so there stabbed suddenly upward
from the top of our own sphere a brilliant yellow
beam that leaped upward and just between our two
pursuers overhead ! For an instant they seemed
daunted by that unexpected shaft, fell back above
us a little, but in the next instant they were plung-
ing down again with renewed speed, their own yel-
low beams clashing and crossing there in the shaft
with ours !

The Pursuers Caught

T THINK that never could there have been cotn-
-L bat so wild and strange as that, that terrific duel
between three great spheres rushing down into the
darkness and mystery of the great shaft, into the
depths of the earth. I heard Darrell’s hoarse ex-
clamations as he sent our own rays stabbing up
toward our pursuers, heard even above the great
humming of the spheres and the rush of winds
about us the dull and distant detonations caused by
the rays striking the great shaft’s walls here and
there. Whirling our plunging sphere precariously
to this side and that, grazing the shaft’s walls in
wild efforts to escape the yellow rays that stabbed
down about us, I realized that the two pursuing

100

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

spheres above were drawing closer and closer,
would soon be just over us and able to loose their
rays upon us without a chance of our escaping
them.

I saw that in one last desperate expedient lay our
only hope of escape, and above the wild melange
of sound about me I cried a few brief words to
Darrell. He nodded swiftly as he understood my
plan. Then the next moment, gripping the control
wheels tightly, I waited for a breathless instant,
then suddenly closed the speed-control, whirling its
wheel around and slackening the downward speed
of our great sphere with breath-taking swiftness.
So swift and unexpected was that slowing of ours
that, even as I had hoped, the two spheres above
had driven down on either side and past us before
they could comprehend our action, could slow their
own spheres also. And in the next moment as we
hung for a moment above them, Darrell had sent
our yellow ray stabbing down upon them, striking
both spheres squarely.

For a moment they seemed to hesitate and as the
brilliant yellow beam of death struck them, both
seemed to melt abruptly and vanish! Then came
the sharp detonations, caused by the surrounding
air rushing into the vacuum left by the sphere’s
annihilation.

We were alone in the darkness of the great shaft,
moving downward now at slow speed as we re-
laxed, half disbelieving in our escape from those
two relentless enemies. The only sound now was
the humming of our own sphere, and as we looked
up and downward we saw that the only light in
the great shaft was that of our own sphere’s white
beams, circling slowly about as our globe of meta.1
moved downward.

“We got both spheres!” Darrell exclaimed, lean-
ing wearily against the wall. “We’ve won through
so far, Vance!”

“Yes, and no more will be after us from above,” 1
I said, glancing upward, “for the flesh-creatures had
no time to give the alarm to the other scores of
spheres watching above — rushed down after us to
destroy us themselves.”

“We've escaped them, at least,” Darrell said,
“and have a clear way downward. But what lies
beneath?”

I shook my head. “We must be many miles
down the shaft already,” I said, “but there’s no
change that I can see, in the shaft’s size or darkness.
We must simply keep on, Darrell.”

I opened again the speed-control and as our
sphere shot downward once more, falling smoothly
now again into the great shaft’s dark depths, we
watched carefully the few details of its walls that
were visible in the light of the white beams. Min-
utes before, during our wild running fight down-
ward with the two spheres, we had flashed past and
beneath the levels of limestone and sandstone and
all the upper strata, and as far as we could make out
in the uncertain vision of our downward rush,
we were now falling between walls of igneous or
fire-formed rock, the great shaft’s opening having
been pierced smoothly and vertically up through
them.

Down — down — down — the shaft seemed endless
to me as I gazed into the darkness unfathomable
that lay beneath us, a darkness in which the beams

of our sphere seemed overwhelmed. We were
humming downward at a speed that was as great
almost as that of our first downward rush, and as
the moments sped past I knew that we must be
sinking farther and farther beneath the surface
of earth each moment, yet still the darkness and
the curving walls of the great shaft about us were
the same. Intent upon the darkness below, in the
hope of glimpsing something in that darkness,
neither Darrell nor I noticed until moments later
a thing which had been thrusting itself upon us
increasingly with each moment. And that was the
fact that the sphere, and the air inside it, were
growing steadily hotter.

A New Danger

A S our minds took in that fact we exchanged sud-
den wide-eyed glances. Did this increasing
heat about us, then, betoken the correctness of the
theory of geologists that beneath its solid crust
lay only fiery molten rock? I remembered the
doubts and wonders that had held me formerly, and
they deepened within me now as the air about us
became more and more heated. Already we were
breathing with some difficulty that parching air,
and already the metal of the sphere about us seemed
to have become almost too hot to touch. And now
as we gazed downward we saw that in the darkness
beneath a strange feeble glow of light was visible,
a flickering, hardly visible sulphurous light that was
becoming slowly stronger.

Down— down — already, I knew, we must be
hundreds of miles beneath earth’s surface. And as
the sulphurous glow beneath us grew in intensity,
as the heat about us became stronger and stronger,
it seemed that our sphere must needs be falling at
that awful speed straight to a fiery death. Yet the
great shaft’s walls fell still vertically downward,
and though now those walls of rock seemed them-
selves touched by a light fiery glow like that be-
neath, seemed glowing themselves with their own
great heat, I held the sphere’s course straight down-
ward with Darrell beside me gripping my arm. And
now there could be no doubt that the walls about
us were glowing, were radiating their own intense
heat and light, and I held the sphere as exactly as
possible to the shaft’s center as we fell on down-
ward, away from those glowing walls of rock.

Within moments the glow of those walls about
and beneath us had become intense, terrible, and
we could see that they were of solid rock no longer
but of glowing, half-melting, half-fusing rock, be-
coming less and less solid. We could glimpse flash-
ing portions of those walls flowing and moving
slowly in thick, molten currents, their fierce light
strong upon us now. It was as though we were
falling now down through the center of a fiery hell.
The terrific heat that radiated from those walls
seeming to wither us as we crouched there !

By then the metal of the sphere had become al-
most burning to the touch, the air within it all but
stifling, and as we choked and panted as that
superheated air reached our lungs, I knew that to
brush even against the molten walls through which
we were falling would be to annihilate our sphere
in their searing heat. Not for long, I knew, could
we reel downward thus through this inferno of heat
and light. And now over our sphere’s humming

THE HIDDEN WORLD

101

there was coming now to our ears a tremendous
grinding and thunderous roaring from all the molt-
en walls about us, and it seemed incredible in that
our great shaft could drop downward through them
thus, that they had not flowed in upon that shaft
and closed it.

“We can’t go on,” Darrell gasped, his face flushed,
his eyes rolling wildly. “This is unbearable.”

I agreed weakly. I felt as though I could stand
it for only a few minutes more. Then I should lose
control of myself utterly. To those of you who
have never been compelled to stand insufferable
heat for any length of time it is hard to imagine
our condition. My blood pounded terribly through
my body, its throb hammering at my brain like ham-
mers.

“No one can stand this,” Darrell gasped, “Our
last moment has come.”

It was true. We were reaching our end. But
then a sudden thought flashed through my tortured
brain. How did those fleshy monsters stand it?
They, too, must have been affected by this terrible
ever-growing heat. Even with their experience with
it they must have some means to protect themselves
against a furnace in which no living thing could
exist.

I told Darrell my thought. His head jerked up
suddenly.

“Yes, that must be so. But how?”

“The controls,” I said, “try them. There must
be one to handle it.”

And as I slackened the speed so that we were
jerked against the floor of the sphere Darrell with
his last strength fingered the other strange con-
trols that lined the panels, trying this one and that.
There was one set like a knob that caught his at-
tention. It was on a wall and apparently had no
relation to the others.

“I don’t know what we’re doing,” he laughed
weakly, “I may be plunging us to destruction with*
this.”

“It’s destruction anyway,” I murmured. “Do
anything, anything but get us from this unbearable
heat.”

I saw him turn the knob clear around through
90 degrees. And of a sudden there came a loud
sputtering and whistling as of air being suddenly
swirled. It seemed as though a tornado had broken
loose outside our car. I had to use all my energy
to keep the car on its path. But what to my utter
surprise and relief when in a few seconds the air
was becoming gradually cooler, the walls which had
begun to take on a reddish glow go dark again. I
saw Darrell smile at me weakly and then slump to
the floor in a dead faint. I could not help him for
in that tornado that raged in the shaft the car was
being swirled about, every so often coming danger-
ously close to the still molten walls.

It was this condition that attracted my attention.
Although the air was becoming cooler and cooler
the walls of the shaft were just as hot. These people
then had some strange means to get a local refrig-
eration ; and the violent displacement of the air was
caused by the cooled air about our car giving way
to the more heated.

In a few minutes the atmosphere of the car had
become bearable again and in fact it was steadily
growing cold. Slowing up the car I reached over

and letting go of the control wheel for a moment I
flipped back halfway the knob that Darrell had
turned. The air became slightly warmer and the
raging of the driven air outside subsided somewhat.

Darrell gradually came back to consciousness as
we plunged down again. He slowly rose to his
feet and gazed about him unsteadily.

“We’re saved again,” he smiled. “And what
now ?”

What now? That was the question in my own
mind. Where was this endless race to lead us?

And then as if in answer to my question, there
was a sudden gathering, an increasing of the
thunderous sound and fierce light and searing heat
about us, we seemed for an instant to be whirling
down into solid flames about and beneath us. Then,
as in a flash, a great circular opening in the walls
of fiery light had appeared directly beneath us, and
as our sphere fell downward still at its tremendous
speed we had shot suddenly into open space, into
a vast, apparently empty space.

“Through !” Darrell was crying as we shot down-
ward now with the shaft’s opening and the molten
walls above us. “We’ve got through !”

“Through!” I repeated, unconsciously bringing
our falling sphere now to a halt there. “Through
— but into what ?”

The Hidden World

F OR now, as we hung there in our sphere, our
first wild moment of exultation over, Darrell
and I were gazing out from our sphere’s window
with an amazement, an utter astonishment, that
each moment deepened within us. For the space
that stretched now about and below us was vast,
gigantic! Just above us there was stretched over
our heads, like a vast glowing roof, a titanic, far-
stretching surface of glowing molten rock, a great
molten sea of intense heat and light from horizon to
horizon, literally, hanging above our heads like a
strange sky of flowing flame ! We could see slow,
vast currents in that molten roof above us, could
see also in it a round dark opening just above us,
the opening of the shaft down which we had come,
the shaft that led up to earth’s surface!

And now as our eyes followed the giant curve
of that fiery roof overhead, we saw that it marched
away to right and left, all about us, like a great
dome above us, like the dome of earth’s own sky,
but seemingly a sky of glowing fire and curving
downward far from us on all sides, too, curving
downward so far away that hardly could we glimpse
it. Thus the earth was really a gigantic hollow
shell that enclosed within itself a vast space that
to our stunned eyes seemed immeasurable, almost!
And it was imide this great shell that our sphere
hung now.

We were within earth’s shell ! And that shell of
a thickness of not more than a thousand miles even
as men had found, grew in temperature with each
mile of its depth, so that its inner surface was almost
completely molten, a giant sea of molten rock cling-
ing to the inner surface of earth’s shell as unalter-
ably as earth’s seas cling to its outer shell, because
the center of gravity of the giant shell lay some-
where within its own thickness! And that was
why, I knew even in that stunned moment, that the

It was a city in which level was built upon level, numberless strata of streets and struc-
tures lying over each other, their transparency allowing the light and heat to penetrate

to the lowest level.

102

THE HIDDEN WORLD

103

molten sea of the giant roof that curved above us
and beneath and all about us, did not fall upon us,
since it could not do so any more than earth’s seas
can all fall outward into space. But the greatest
wonder was to come. For of a sudden we saw
below us as though suspended in the hollow of
the great shell a great sphere.

A world! A world at which Darrell and I
gazed dazedly in that moment, a great spherical
world that was half the diameter of this great
hollow space, and that hung beneath us at that
giant space’s center, motionless there but turning!
A great world here inside our own world’s shell,
warmed and lit by the never-ceasing glowing light
and heat from all the molten inner surface that
enclosed the space in which it hung! A hidden
world from which, I knew even at that moment, the
flesh-creatures had come.

“A world !” my exclamation was stunned, awed.
“A world hidden here at earth’s heart, and never
dreamed of by earth’s peoples!”

Darrell’s voice was as hushed with awe as my
own. “A world in this great space inside our own
world ! And turning even as earth is turning,
Vance!”

And now too as we gazed tensely down we could
make out more features of its gleaming surface,
could see that that surface was covered with
vaguely-glimpsed structures that silhouetted in the
light of the encircling molten shell.' We could
make out, too, the great outlines of some colossal
greater structure on that world’s surface almost
directly beneath us, and could glimpse even from
our height swarms of swift shapes driving to and
fro above this strange world’s surface!

I pointed eagerly down toward them. “Those
spheres, Darrell!” I exclaimed. “Those gleaming
buildings — it means that this is the flesh-creatures’
world — that it is down to this world that they took
Kelsall and Fenton!”

The Transparent City

D ARRELL nodded, his eyes alight. “They’re
down here somewhere, if they’re still living.
But have we any chance to get to them, Vance, to
get them clear and get back up the shaft ?’’

“We must try,” I said. “In this sphere we can
at least move about over the surface of this world
without the flesh-creatures suspecting our presence.
And if we can find some trace of Kelsall and Fen-
ton, can get to them, we should be able to get
back to the shaft.”

“It’s the one chance given to us,” Darrell agreed.
“And we must win through, Vance, must get Kel-
sall and Fenton back up to earth’s surface, warn
the people of earth of what lies here beneath them.
Those buildings — those swarming spheres — they
show the numbers and the power of these flesh-
things, and already they have this shaft that will
allow them to pour up onto our earth!”

I nodded grimly, gripping the control wheels
once more, and then as I turned them our great
sphere was falling again, humming straight down
toward the great turning world beneath us. Crouch-
ing together there at the low controls, Darrell and

I gazed down toward that world as our sphere
shot downward. Above us now the great molten
glowing roof of this vast space, the inner molten
side of earth’s shell that enclosed it, was receding.
It was only now, gazing out to either side and
downward as we fell that Darrell and I were able
to appreciate to the full the vast size of this great
hollow at earth’s heart, this colossal space enclosed
by earth’s great shell. For to us it seemed that we
were falling through open space, a space bounded
in all directions not by blue sky but by a great
glowing, curving roof.

Within moments we had fallen so near to it that
the turning world seemed to fill all space beneath
us, shutting from view the other curving molten
inner side of earth’s shell that stretched far be-
neath it. We could see now that this spherical
world was covered almost completely with strange
gleaming structures, great and rectangular in form
and rather flat, mighty structures between which
there ran the narrow streets. And those streets
gleamed even as did the great structures, in the
glow of the molten sky surrounding this world.
And as we dropped nearer we saw why they did so,
saw that streets and structures alike were trans-
parent ! They were built of some transparent metal
or alloy that made them seem like giant structures
of glass, and as we came closer and closer through
the flat transparent roofs and walls we could make
out Vaguely the swarming masses of great white
fleslj-monsters and the strange masses of objects
and mechanisms that those buildings held!

It was a city in which level was built apparently
upon level, numberless strata of streets and struc-
tures lying over each other, their transparent roofs
and streets and walls allowing the light and heat
that beat down upon this world to penetrate to the
lowest levels ! Here and there we could make out
great well-like openings that dropped down through
those countless levels, while almost beneath us upon
the uppermost level there lay the greatest and
strangest structure visible on this strange world’s
surface. This was a giant black shining disk, quite
flat, that was fully five hundred feet in diameter,
and beside which there lay a smaller and similar
disk but a hundredth of the larger one’s diameter.
Beside both disks were a row of great transparent
buildings or structures, crowded with half-glimpsed
mechanisms which seemed in themselves more or
less transparent, and with countless flesh-creatures.
And this great disk was of the same diameter as the
great open shaft through which we had come !

Even as that fact impressed itself upon my brain,
however, Darrell cried out suddenly, pointed down-
ward, toward the great swarms of spheres moving
to and fro over the world beneath us. We had been
humming swiftly down toward those swarming
spheres without giving them attention for the mo-
ment, engrossed as we were by the astounding
spectacle of the strange world. But now, as Dar-
rell shouted, I felt a sudden stab of icy fear. For
those swarming spheres had given way to all sides
beneath us, for the moment, and up through them
there had rushed a close-massed swarm of more
than a hundred gathered spheres, a hundred spheres
that were whirling swiftly straight up toward our-
selves !

104

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

CHAPTER V
A World of Wonders

I N that moment as the hundreds of spheres drove
up toward us, Darrell and I stared transfixed
with horror. I could make no single move to
escape them. So sudden and unexpected had been
their swift rush upward that I could only watch
them as one fascinated. Long before we could
turn, could win back up to the shaft’s opening,
those spheres would be upon us with their blasting
yellow rays. In an instant, it seemed, they were
beneath us, whirling straight up, and then suddenly
they had changed their formation a little, spreading
out a little and swerving as they did to one side,
and the next moment before I could comprehend
what had happened were flashing up past us, up
toward the molten curving roof far overhead !

“The shaft!” Darrell was exclaiming. “They’ve
gone to the shaft, another hundred spheres — but
why ?”

“I think I know,” I said, as a sudden idea oc-
curred to me. “It must be that this hundred spheres
have gone up to relieve the hundred guarding the
shaft’s mouth — that have been guarding it now for
more than a day.”

He nodded at my suggestion. “That must be it,”
he said, “but for the moment it seemed all up with
us.”

But now we were turning our attention back
down toward the great strange world beneath,
down toward which we were still dropping in our
humming sphere. I gradually decreased the speed
of our sphere until moments later, when we shot
down among the swarms of spheres that came and
went above the transparent streets and structures
of this world, we were moving at a moderate speed.
All about us now those spheres were swarming,
and through their control-sections’ windows we
could glimpse the great white flesh-monsters in-
side them, at their controls. We took care to
crouch as low as possible at the controls of our
own great globe, and constantly moving as we
were there seemed small possibility that any of
the creatures in the flying spheres about us would
notice our strange appearance, would recognize us
as different from themselves.

As we shot among them, though, Darrell and I
were surveying with intense interest still the fea-
tures of the world beneath. A great and unending
mass of gleaming, transparent structures and streets
it lay reflecting the glow of the molten inner shell.
The streets beneath us were swarming with masses
of the great flesh-monsters, and as we saw their
great forms hurrying to and fro, with a speed far
greater than that of their clumsy movements on
earth’s surface, we realized that it was the smaller
gravitational attraction of this smaller world, ap-
parently, that accounted for the clumsiness and
greater weight upon earth’s surface.

Darrell was clutching my arm now as we sped
on across this strange, teeming world. “What
about Kelsall and Fenton?” he said, “how are we
ever to find them here?”

I shook my head. “It seems impossible, I ad-
mitted, “but we must try.”

He was viewing keenly the swarming scene be-
neath us as we shot on. “I think, Vance,” he said,

“that if Kelsall and Fenton are still living, are being
held here by these flesh-things, it would be in one
of the lower levels, if only for safety’s sake.”

“But we can’t explore the lower levels !” I pointed
out. “Even here in the sphere above this world we
may be discovered any moment, and to leave it
and venture down there inside on foot would be
suicide!”

“But there’s another way we can try,” Darrell
said swiftly. “In the sphere we can get to those
wells that sink down through the different levels —
and perhaps get some clue as to their where-
abouts.”

I realized that the plan Darrell suggested to
penetrate down into the strange under-levels of
this strange hidden world was in fact to find our
two friends. So, nodding quick agreement to his
suggestion, I sent the sphere heading across the
great transparent mass of structures and swarming
streets, through the crowds of spheres that flashed to
and fro above it, until there appeared ahead a great
circular opening. It was one of the great wells
that we had seen from above, a great shaft that sank
down through the various transparent levels of
this mighty world-city. And as we neared it we
saw that down into it and up from it were pouring
a ceaseless stream of great spheres like our own.
A moment more and we were among them, were
hanging over the great well’s depths. As I turned
the control wheels our sphere began to sink down-
ward.

A moment more and we had sunk beneath the
topmost level, and then, beside us, there stretched
away the equally vast and swarming scene of the
second level. A full hundred feet or more in height
it was, from its floor to the transparent streets and
structures of the first level above it which formed
its roof, and down through that roof there beat al-
most unabated the glowing light and heat that fell
upon this world! In this second level, though,
were no structures such as rose upon the first, for
being completely under cover as it was it formed
in effect but one gigantic room which stretched
like the levels beneath and above it completely
around this turning world!

And it was a scene of strange activity that ri-
valled that of the top level. And as we could gaze
far across that second level, we all but forgot the
object of our quest in the unparalleled interest of
the scene. For about us there stretched on that
level such a great melange of mighty mechanisms
and busy flesh-things, such a babel of clanking
and humming of machines and whistling of strange
speech-sounds, that almost were we stunned by it.
And as we hung there, gazing from our sphere in
fascination while other spheres from above and
beneath us in the great well sped into this level or
sped out of it, we could make out dimly the pur-
pose of some of the great mechanisms we saw be-
fore us, could half-comprehend the true wonders on
which our eyes rested.

Near us on that level was one of the mightiest of
the great mechanisms, a tremendous squat cylindri-
cal affair constructed for the most part of transpar-
ent metal, for the purpose of impeding as little as
possible, like all the other mechanisms and struc-
tures in this world, the light and heat that fell to
the lower levels. We could see that a great chain-

THE HIDDEN WORLD

105

lift contrivance rose just beside it, an endless chain
upon each few feet of which were great shallow
cups or scoops filled with broken rock, rising up
through the levels beneath by means of round open-
ings in their floors. These masses of broken rock
were automatically dumped into the uppermost
section of the great transparent cylinder, where
there played upon them from all sides a lambent
green light of force that was conveyed to the cyl-
inder by thick cable connections. Beneath this
green force the masses of rock were disintegrated
instantly into a fine dust, and as much swirled down
into the second section of the cylinder.

This section was divided into several transparent
compartments, in each of which there played an
unceasing yellow ray like the electron-stream ray
used by the flesh-monsters to annihilate matter.
As the fine rock-dust entered these compartments
it seemed annihilated instantly, seemed changed to
a mere cloud of shining particles rushing down into
the third section of the cylinder into similarly di-
vided compartments where another yellow ray
played upon each. And beneath this second yel-
low beam or force those half-glimpsed shining
clouds of particles changed back swiftly into visible
matter, different in each compartment. In one it
became a fine gray powder, in another a milky white
liquid, in still another a thin saffron fluid. And
these poured down in turn from the vivid compart-
ments into the cylinder’s lowest section where they
mixed together instantly under the force of power-
ful vibrators to form a thick dark liquid which was
conveyed away by great pipelines of transparent
metal to vast tanks visible in the distance.

This great mechanism, humming in unceasing
operation, puzzled me for a moment, but then as
Darrell and I glimpsed small flexible tubes and
nozzles projecting here and there from the pipe-
lines, and flesh-creatures now and then seizing
those tubes and inserting their ends in their mouth-
apertures, we remembered the same action on the
part of the flesh-things above; saw that this dark
liquid was their food, and gasped as we realized
that the giant cylindrical mechanism before us was
one of countless similar mechanisms we could
glimpse that were making that food directly from
the rock brought up from beneath! For that rock,
we saw, was pulverized by the green force, then
was treated by the yellow ray to make of it but a
miscellaneous collection of protons and electrons,
to separate the electrons and protons of each of its
atoms, sending those electrons and protons down
to the cylinder’s third section.

The Secret of Transparency

T HERE those electrons and protons were acted
upon again in separate compartments by dif-
ferent yellow rays, were built up by those rays into
the desired substances by causing to join to each
proton the desired number of electrons, thus form-
ing any element desired. And with the desired
elements formed thus in each of the compartments,
it was needed only to let them mix together in
the fourth section of the cylinder, to form into the
complex compound that was their synthetic food-
substance. This much of the process I could fath-
om, as did Darrell, from what we could see before

us, though we knew that in reality it must be much
more complicated than that.

Far across this second level Darrell and I could
see scores of great cylinder-mechanisms like the
one before us, each served by a chain-lift that
brought ceaseless supplies of rock up to it from
beneath and each swiftly converting those rock-
masses into the dark liquid that flowed away to
the great reservoir tanks located here and there.
From which tanks, as I could see even then, it
was piped away in all directions, carrying the dark
synthetic food-liquid by force of gravity down
through a great pipe-system to all of this strange
world-city’s lower levels, the whole countless
hordes of the flesh-creatures being able thus at any
moment to obtain the necessary amount of the
food-liquid from the nearest tube and nozzle.

Across all this second level extended the great
cylinder-machine and tanks, humming with activ-
ity and swarming with the flesh-things who watched
and regulated the operation of the vast machines,
but no sign was there that anywhere here were
our two friends. So, with a last glance across the
level, I sent the sphere downward again in the
great well. Spheres were crowding thickly about
us still in that well, halting here and there as they
reached the level they desired and speeding a\tfay
inside that level, but all seemed so intent upon
their own course that their occupants gave to our
own globe no attention. So, when we reached the
third great level, a hundred feet farther down, we
hung motionless again, Darrell and I gazing with
eager eyes through it as through the one above in
the hope of glimpsing some trace of our friends.

This third level, though, seemed much like the
one above it, a great vista of strange great mechan-
isms lit by the glow from the transparent level over
it. Here, though, that glow of light was percep-
tibly weaker and here the great mechanisms that
were ranged about were of a visibly different nature.
For though they were cylindrical in shape and much
like those food-making mechanisms on the level
above in appearance, it was not the dark food-liquid
that these were busy in producing. Instead the
electrons and protons that they made of the rock-
masses fed into them were formed by successive
treatments of the yellow force into white-hot
streams of molten metal, which cooled swiftly into
great ingots that were conveyed from beneath the
great cylinders by moving belts or platforms of
metal.

These great new-formed ingots, in turn, were
thus transferred to giant automatic presses which
in one motion changed them to great flat or curving
plates of metal. What interested me most was the
next step of the process, in which most of the
plates and sections thus formed were carried along
by their moving belts and between great tubes
from which glowed a green force through which
they slowly passed. And as they passed beneath
the power of that green force, as it flooded through
them, we saw the great sections of metal becoming
transparent before our eyes 1 It was apparent that
the green force was one that in some way altered
the molecular or crystalline structure of the metal
in those sections, making them as transparent as
glass itself without impairing in any way their
strength.

106

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

And as we gazed thus with fascinated eyes at
this mighty clanging workshop, there came to me
the answer too of another thing that for some time
had puzzled both Darrell and myself. For we had,
in all the vast swarming scenes that we had passed
over and through so far on this strange world, seen
none of the flesh-creatures sleeping or even rest-
ing. Even the hundred spheres that had patrolled
the shaft’s mouth on earth far above had been re-
lieved, we guessed, because of the need to replenish
the power of their mechanisms rather than to give
their occupants a rest. And since there was no
night, could be no night, in this hidden world
around which on all sides there extended the molt-
en, ever-glowing surface of earth’s shell’s inner
side, why was it that none of the masses of crea-
tures we saw seemed ever to sleep or rest?

But now we saw the answer to that question in
a single creature who seemed to be moving slowly
among the masses of the other busy flesh-creatures,
stopping for a moment at each one. And as he
came nearer to where our sphere hung, we saw
that he held in his grasp a transparent metal con-
tainer of some thin bright crimson fluid, and that
with an apparatus very much like a long hypo-
dermic needle he was injecting a swift shot of this
fluid into each of the busy workers, a little -below
and to one side of the single great eye. For the
moment the thing puzzled me, but then I realized
that this was the answer to the sleeplessness of the
creatures that this crimson fluid was one that neu-
tralized in their bodies the toxins that caused the
need of sleep.

Makers of Flesh!

I T was a world of wonders, surely, into which
Darrell and I were penetrating in our sphere,
but now after a last glance I shot the sphere down
to the level beneath, to gaze along it also for some
clue to our friends’ whereabouts, a certain hope-
lessness had begun to fill me, a hopelessness that I
expressed to Darrell.

“This immense world-city — these swarming lev-
els — ” I said, “it seems hopeless, Darrell, to search
for Kelsall and Fenton in them.”

“It’s our one chance to find them, though,” he
said, his own brow wrinkled anxiously, “and we
may light upon them yet.”

“If we only knew where the center of govern-
ment — the center of activity — of this world was,”
I said, “we’d have a chance, for if Kelsall and Fen-
ton live they’d be near it. But as it is ”

We were silent both, a tense, almost despairing
silence, as we sank down farther in the great well.
Tremendous massed machines, hurrying, busy flesh-
things, rushing spheres, clang and hum and hiss
of sounds, these things stretched far away about us
in that level, and in the next beneath it, and the
next. Down and down into the great well we sank,
hanging beside each level, and gazing across it in
vain hopes for some trace of our two friends. And
as we sank downward we noted that in each level
that we descended the light that filtered down
through the transparent levels above was feebler,
duskier.

Yet still there swarmed in each level the busy
hordes, the ceaselessly operating machines, while
from level to level in the well about us shot the

rushing spheres. And from level to level up the
narrow stairs that led from one to another there
moved ceaselessly streams too of great flesh-
monsters hastening upon incalculable errands. Like
a giant replica of some strange anthill was this
unutterably alien world hidden here at the heart
of earth’s colossal shell, and as we sank downward
through its levels in the great well, pausing in our
vain search at level after level, gazing across those
swarming levels, we could make out vast mechan-
isms and contrivances some of which were quite in-
calculable in purpose, others being more or less
clear in principle at least to our watching eyes.

We saw what we learned later were giant atom-
disintegrating mechanisms which were fed with
rock and with broken and worn metal scraps, and
which swiftly stripped from the atomic struc-
ture of that mass of matter its electrons, separating
them from the protons and forcing them into special
compression-chambers in which other forces held
them prisoned. It was these compression-cham-
bers of prisoned electrons, as we surmised, that
were the source of much of this world’s power, since
when released in special projectors those electrons
formed electron-streams or yellow rays such as we
were already familiar with and which could be
regulated in power. They were used in a concen-
trated ray to blast matter into annihilation, or re-
leased in a broad invisible fan-beam from the rear
of the spheres to drive them forward, as we had
already guessed during our observation of the crea-
tures above.

Upon a lower level we saw two great chambers
or laboratories through whose transparent walls
we could make out huge retorts and strange chemi-
cal apparatus, vast and complex mixing and separat-
ing mechanisms, tended by careful flesh-creatures.
The product of those strange laboratories seefned
to be a white, pulpy substance that for the moment
puzzled us, but that we then recognized as flesh,
as white flesh like that of the creatures who were
making it! And in transparent-walled chambers
beyond we could see their uses of that artificial
flesh, those body-tissues which they created, could
see them using them to repair the bodies of their
own fellows that were mangled now and again in
some of the great machines ! For to these masters
of the atom, these strange beings who had learned
to change by super-alchemy any element into any
other by the shifting of its atoms’ electrons, the
creation of these complex flesh-compounds was a
matter so simple as to be carried out almost auto-
matically by their great machines!

For a time that seems now to me filled only with
a blurred memory of tremendous, incalculable mech-
anisms and swarming flesh-creatures and rushing
spheres, of level beneath swarming level in this
strange stratified world, we sank down. I cannot
remember, now, all of the strange things of this
hidden world. But at last, though, the last few
levels lay beneath us, the great well’s smooth floor
a few hundred feet only below us, and we were
sinking down past those last levels with hope fading
in us.

Thost lower levels, we found, were in effect a
gigantic workshop in which the curved and flat
sections of metal manufactured above, were com-
bined with a myriad other objects and instruments

THE HIDDEN WORLD

107

brought from the upper levels by ceaseless chain-
lifts, to form countless masses of the great flying
spheres. For as Darrell and I gazed out across
those lowest levels, we were all but deafened by
the terrific clangor of metal that came to our ears.
As far as the eye reached nothing was visible but
row upon endless row of great spheres, being as-
sembled there by countless hordes of the busy
flesh-creatures. Most of the great spheres, indeed,
seemed already assembled, already gathered there
in great rows and ready for operation, and as Dar-
rell and I saw that we gazed for an instant at each
other with startled eyes.

“Almost ready!” I whispered, as we gazed out
through that terrific clangor of sound and cease-
less activity. “Almost ready, Darrell — all these
countless thousands of spheres!”

A Conference

H E nodded, looking forth with me. “It can only
mean that they’re almost ready to surge up to
earth’s surface in their great attack. For they’ve
pierced their shaft up to the surface, and now
these numberless spheres in which they can rush
up are almost finished.”

Something of despair, I think, came upon us as
we looked forth upon those tremendous prepara-
tions that we knew spelled doom for our own world.
It was with that despair deepening in my heart
that I sent our sphere rising upward in the great
well, since it was plain to Darrell and myself that,
wherever our two friends might be, it would not
be in these vast workshops of the lowest levels.
Abruptly, though, as we rose slowly upward amid
the swarming spheres in the great well, there came
something that for the moment made us forget the
despair that had gripped us. And that was a sound,
a great high whistling sound of immense volume
and intensity came through all the swarming levels
of this strange swarming world. As it sounded a
sudden hush seemed to fall upon the activity all
about us, all seeming listening to the call, even as
ourselves. And as the great call ceased we became
aware that though the activities about us had
begun again, though the clanging of the great ma-
chines in the levels about us had not ceased, a
number of the swarming spheres about us and above
and below us seemed converging now toward a
certain level in the well, toward the sixtieth of this
great world’s levels, and were disappearing from
the well into that level. From all about, from all
the other levels and from far across this world’s
topmost transparent surface above, spheres were
rushing in scores in answer to that strange call,
though save for them the activities about us were
unchanged.

Darrell and I exchanged quick and eager glances
of hope, as we saw those spheres disappearing in
a great stream into the sixtieth and in a moment,
with a last hope that that summons might have
some connection with our friends, we were joining
that stream of rushing spheres. Between the trans-
parent roof and floor of that level, through a dusky
feeble glow of light that beat down through the
levels above us, onwsard we sped with our fellow-
globes, in answer to that great summons, over and
around the vast mechanisms and hastening work-
ers between colossal floor and roof for. mile upon

mile, a wild speeding for us through that vast and
dusky level.

As we rushed on I was able to see that it was by
means of great pillars of transparent metal that the
great levels were held each above the other, was
able to see that all these levels, all this world, were
in effect but one vast gigantic workshop. And a
workshop it was whose activity seemed never to
cease, the flesh-things tending always their mighty
humming and clanking mechanisms, their only
pauses being to take from the nearest tube of
the great pipe-system their liquid food, or to have
injected into them, by the creatures set aside for
that purpose, the crimson fatigue-neutralizing fluid.
A vast workshop, indeed, and one that I knew was
hammering out with each passing hour the doom
of my own world.

But now rushing stream of spheres about us
was slowing, and as we slowed our sphere also,
Darrell and I peering forward through its window
with eager excitement, we saw that the spheres
among which we moved were shooting out now
from the level in which we raced into some vast
and apparently open space that lay before us. In
another moment our own sphere, with those direct-
ly above it, was flashing out into that space, and
then we saw in that first glance that it was no open
space, really, but a vast hall.

Kelsall and Fenton Again

V AST indeed was that hall, a tremendous oval
room more than two thousand feet in length, and
extending through a dozen levels of this strange world.
Beneath us stretched the great hall’s smooth floor, and
far above its transparent roof. And immense as it
was it seemed all but filled now with spheres like
our own, hanging motionless in great swarms of hun-
dreds upon hundreds. Within a moment it seemed,
the whole titanic hall was all but filled by the count-
less scores of spheres that had gathered within it.

In each of these spheres about us, we knew, were
one or more of the flesh-creatures, summoned to
this hall from across all this world by the strange
great call. And as Darrell and I gazed eagerly forth
to find the purpose of the gathering, we saw for the
first time that at one of the ends of the mighty oval
room there jutted forth a broad balcony halfway
between floor and roof, and that upon this balcony
were gathered a row of some twelve great flesh-
creatures, seated and regarding the spheres that had
gathered here in answer to their summons. So far
away were they from us in the vast hall that the
great creatures seemed tiny, almost, seen by us
through the crowd of spheres that hung about us.
And then suddenly a stir of movement, of excite-
ment perhaps, ran through all those massed spheres
as one of the twelve seated figures arose and stepped
forth to the balcony’s edge.

For a moment he seemed to regard the massed
spheres before him in silence with his single great
staring eye, and then had begun to speak, the whis-
tling sounds coming out to us in the great hall loud
and clear, sent forth, no doubt, by some amplifying
apparatus. Slowly and deliberately he was speaking,
to the massed spheres in the great hall before him, to
the flesh-creatures inside those spheres, and though
his speech-sounds were of course utterly unintelligible
to Darrell and myself, there came to me a dim per-

And then they stepped aside, disclosing to view two figures whom they guarded and on
whom they kept a tight hold. Those figures were Kelsall and Fenton!

108

THE HIDDEN WORLD

109

ception of the nature of the gathering about me. I
realized that those twelve creatures on the balcony
must form the supreme ruling body of this hidden
world, and that the flesh-creatures in the hundreds
of spheres about me that had gathered here would be,
perhaps, the officials or lesser heads of that world.

And, hanging there, it was as though Darrell and
myself had all but understood the creature’s strange
speech, had understood that he was speaking to the
creatures about us concerning the vast work now
rushing to completion in this world’s levels, the giant
plan that these things had formulated to surge up
upon our own earth. A strange sense of unreality
came to me as we hung there, listening to those
whistling speech-sounds, and surely never were men
in a more unreal and incredible position than we.
Hanging there in our great stolen sphere amid hun-
dreds of similar spheres filled with flesh-creatures
who never dreamed of our presence among them!
Hanging there in this great hall among the levels
of this swarming hidden world that spun here in the
vast space at earth’s heart! Our situation was so
grotesque, so nightmare-like, that as we seemed al-
most in the midst of some strange dream.

Suddenly, though, we snapped back to realization of
our situation as the whistling voice of the great
creature on the balcony suddenly ceased. Whatever
it was that he had said, whatever orders he had
given to the creatures in the spheres about us, we
saw another stir of movement run through their
masses as he ceased. A moment he paused, then
was speaking again to them for a brief moment,
turning then to give a short order to someone behind
him. Instantly in answer to that order there
emerged onto the broad balcony from the door
through the wall behind it a half-score of flesh-
creatures armed with the ray-cubes, and guarding
with them some figure or figures that walked for-
ward among them. They paused, near the great
balcony’s edge, an intense silence seeming to have
fallen for the moment over all the great sphere-
crowded hall. And then they stepped aside a little,
disclosing to view two figures, whom they guarded,
and on whom they kept a tight hold.

And those two figures were Kelsall and Fenton!

I N the next moment, as Darrell and I gazed upon
those two tiny, distant figures that had appeared
there on the balcony at the great hall’s end, my
first impulse was to send our sphere flashing across
the hall toward them, and with our own rays send
their captors to annihilation. But in that moment
Darrell’s hand was suddenly strong upon my wrist,
and though his eyes were as alight with excitement
as my own, he was holding back my wild impulse.

“Not now, Vance!” he whispered tensely. “We’ve
found them — but we can’t make a move toward them
now !”

“Found them— yes!” I said, my heart hammer-
ing. “But why have they been brought here —
brought before these things?”

“We’ll soon see,” Darrell said. “Hold steady—
and our chance to free them will come.”

So throttling that first mad impulse, I waited with
Darrell gazing tensely toward the figures of our

friends on the great balcony. Their guards, moving
back a little from them, now held them face to face
with the great flesh-monster who had been speaking
to us. And now as he surveyed them for a moment
with his great eye we saw them returning his gaze,
Kelsall’s strong face drawn but steady, Fenton stand-
ing beside him with a hand upon his shoulder. We
saw them, too, venturing a glance around the great
sphere-filled hall, and could see that in their belts
were no longer their pistols. Then as Kelsall and
Fenton faced the great flesh-monster there, he had
begun to speak to them, to speak to them for a
momertt in the whistling speech-sounds of these things.

A moment only he spoke to them and to the amaze-
ment of Darrell and myself, when he had finished,
Kelsall replied to him in the same whistling sounds
or in a human-voiced imitation of them! Replied to
him in a few brief strange-sounding words or phrases
in the manner of these flesh-creatures. There was
silence for another moment when he had finished and
then the creature, suddenly threatening and baleful
in aspect, spoke to them again, several minutes in a
long, deliberate exhortation of some sort. His whis-
tling sounds, unintelligible to us, were being listened
to intently by Kelsall and Fenton as well as by all
the creatures in the crowding spheres about us. And
when the great monster had finished our two friends
replied to him instantly with a single whistling sound,
a single phrase or word. And as they did so there
rose from all the flesh-things in the gathered spheres
about us a sudden babel of whistling cries!

Darrell and I gazed across the hall tensely as that
strange and sudden tumult arose, precipitated as
it had been by whatever answer Kelsall and Fenton
had made to the speech of the great creature before
them. His whole attitude in that moment was as
eloquent of anger as that of such an alien creature
could be. My hands tightened upon the controls
in that moment for I looked for the thing to give
an instant order for the death of our friends, so
fierce and evident was the anger of all about us at
whatever response they had made to him. Instead,
though, the thing gave only a brief order to their
half-score guards and those stepped instantly for-
ward and still holding our friends, marched them
back through the great door in the wall from which
they had come. And then, as Kelsall and Fenton
disappeared with the guards through that door, the
standing monster on the balcony had turned back
to our gathered spheres and again spoke to them.

Now, though, as we heard his whistling speech,
Darrell and I were gripped with a tense impatience,
for we wanted only to follow our friends and their
guards, yet dared make no move toward that door
behind the balcony until the creatures on the bal-
cony were gone. Tensely we waited, knowing
that with each moment the guards and our friends
would be farther from us.

Then as with a final whistling order the great
creature on the balcony ceased speaking, the spheres
that filled the hall were beginning to empty out
of it. Pretending to join them, I still held our own
sphere in the hall, and in a moment more Darrell
and I could see the twelve flesh-monsters on the
balcony passing back from it through the great
door in the wall behind it. In a moment they were
gone, and in moments more the last of the great
spheres had sped out of the mighty hall except our

CHAPTER VI

The Origin of the Hidden World

110

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

own. Instantly then I sent our own sphere driving
across the huge room toward the balcony and the
great door behind it.

That balcony and door were set in the great
room’s wall just above the sixtieth level, and in a
moment we had reached them, our big sphere still
proving small enough to pass easily through the
great door. As we shot through it, therefore, we
found ourselves within the fifty-ninth level, that
level being but feebly and duskily lit by what light
came down through the transparent levels above.
Before us there stretched away great rows of vast
machines like those we had glimpsed from the well,
those about us being engaged in turning forth metal
ingots which were conveyed automatically to the
great presses that shaped them into plates. Swiftly
we gazed about us, but for the moment could see
nothing of our friends amid all this swarming ac-
tivity of flesh-creatures and machines of the guards.
Then suddenly, as sharp despair seemed upon us
once more, Darrell pointed away through great
rows of the mechanisms and I made out the forms
of the half-score guards, grouped still about our
two friends, marching with them down between
those two great rows of machines.

Instantly I sent our sphere humming after them,
holding it behind them until, at a low speed, we
were following them at a distance of a hundred
yards or so. As we shot after them, curving now
and then around some larger mechanism, we evoked
no attention whatever in our sphere from the flesh-
creatures busy in countless numbers at the machines
around us, since scores of other spheres like our
own were darting to and fro within this level upon
errands of their own. And now as we followed our
friends and their guards across the dusky-lit level,
swarming with clanging activity, we became aware
that ahead the great mechanisms were coming to an
end, their long rows giving place to series of trans-
parent-walled rooms of metal constructed in rows
or blocks. Down a broad avenue between two such
long rows of transparent-walled rooms the guards
were moving with our two friends and slowly,
dropping 'to a greater distance behind, our big
sphere followed them, our hearts beating high now.

Most of the rooms on either side of us, we saw,
as we sped between them, were storerooms of vari-
ous materials which were apparently too valuable
to be allowed to lie loosely about. Some of the
rooms held masses of shining ores strange to us,
some intricate mechanisms whose purposes we
could not even guess, others stores of what seemed
projectors of the yellow ray. In none of them,
though, were there any of the flesh-creatures, and
as we moved on there far behind the guards and
our two friends, we became aware that the clangor
and hum of sound from the great machines behind
was becoming fainter and fainter and that in these
blocks of store-rooms and avenues into which we
were moving there seemed hardly any flesh-crea-
tures visible. Then as the guards around Kelsall
and Fenton, far ahead of us, turned suddenly into
an avenue leading to the left, they vanished from
our view.

By the time that our own sphere had reached
that turn, had. halted a little short of it, we could
see along this dusky branching corridor that
the guards had halted Kelsall and Fenton for a

moment at the door of a transparent-walled room,
were opening that door. This branching corridor
was too narrow for our big sphere to enter, and now
as we hovered in the sphere there in that moment
we saw the guards opening the door, thrusting our
two friends inside, and then closing it sharply after
them, tampering for a moment after with some
device upon its surface. Then they had turned
from the door, and two of the flesh-creatures having
posted themselves before it, ray-cubes in their
grasp, the remaining eight were coming back
toward the main avenue, toward ourselves.

At once I darted our sphere backward, and as
they emerged into the main avenue sent the sphere
rising swiftly upward in that avenue. The avenue,
like the rooms on either side of it, extended clear to
the roof of the fifty-ninth level, a hundred feet
above, and in a moment our great sphere had
hummed upward and the eight guards, unconscious
of our presence above them, were passing back
along the avenue beneath us, toward the great oval
hall. A moment more and they were lost to view
down the dusky avenue, and then I brought the
sphere down to the floor again, to where the nar-
rower corridor branched from the avenue. Keeping
well back from that corridor and out of sight of the
two guards posted in it, Darrell and I gazed for a
moment ahead and behind, seeing that about us
were none of the flesh-creatures in this quiet section
of store-rooms. Then we had turned toward each
other.

“Now is our chance!” Darrell whispered. “If we
can overpower those two guards and get Kelsall and
Fenton out of that cell and into our sphere, we’ll
be able to make our way back up out of this world,
up the shaft to earth’s surface!”

“We still have our pistols,” I said, “and with
them we should be able to dispose of these two
guards, at least.”

“Yes, but no noise if it can be helped, Vance,”
he cautioned. “A shot is liable to bring a swarm
of the creatures here upon us, and wreck all our
chances.”

Having seen to the magazines of our two auto-
matics, we turned toward the round door of our
sphere, swung it quietly open. As I crouched
there inside it it came to me, strangly enough in
that moment, that in all the hours since Darrell and
I had entered that sphere in our mad rush into it
at the great shaft’s mouth, far above on earth’s
surface, we had not left it. Now, though, stooping
a little at the round door, I tok a quick step onto the
great avenue’s translucent floor, through which we
could glimpse vaguely the swarming machines and
creatures on the level far beneath. And then as I
took that step, emerged from the sphere, I found
myself rocketing smoothly upward toward the
great level’s roof!

In that instant, that moment in which I went
smoothly up to the avenue’s roof like one falling
upward, such fear gripped at my heart as I had
never known before. I heard a hoarse whisper
from Darrell, below, and then as he stepped out
from the sphere he was falling smoothly upward
with me, until in a moment our heads had bumped
gently in succession against the roof of the level,
and then we were falling as smoothly and gently
downward, lighting like falling feathers upon the

THE HIDDEN WORLD

111

avenue’s floor ! Crouching upon that floor, far back
in the avenue from the corridor of the two guards
and our friends’ cell, we lay for a moment with
hearts pounding, finding now that each slight stir
of our muscles as we crouched there caused us to
float up for a yard or more from the floor on which
we lay!

Then abruptly light came to me and I clutched
at Darrell’s arm. “The gravity, Darrell!” I whis-
pered. “The lesser gravitational power of this
world! You remember how the flesh-creatures
could hardly move on our own world’s surface?
And it’s the same with us, only reversed !”

I saw comprehension in his eyes instantly, saw
that he understood, as I had suddenly understood,
that it was the smaller gravitational power of this
smaller world that gave each effort of our muscles
such enhanced effects. Crouching in our sphere,
holding to the controls and moving constantly to
and fro, as we had done in our hours inside this
world so far, we had not noticed this, but immedi-
ately upon emerging from the sphere and using
our muscles it had become apparent to us in this
startling fashion. Now, though, we strove to find
some method of locomotion that was to allow us to
move slowly forward along the avenue. After a
few moments’ experimentation we found that by
lying flat and crawling slowly forward as a swim-
mer might crawl upon a pool’s bottom, we could
progress forward at fair speed and in silence. We
crept down the avenue toward the narrow corridor
that branched to the left from it, and in which were
stationed outside the cell of our friends the two
guards.

The Battle in the Corridor

I N a moment we had reached that corridor, and
then, just back from it in the main avenue, we
peered cautiously down it toward the two great
flesh-monsters standing still at the door of our
friends’ cell. Through the dim dusk that reigned
here in this level we could make out vaguely their
great white shapes, standing outside that door with
their ray-cubes watchfully in their grasp. A mo-
ment we peered toward them, our own automatics
in our hands now and our eyes gleaming as the
moment for action approached. Then I turned to
Darrell for a last word with him before we leaped
upon the two guards. And in that moment, as I
turned, there came a thing which so astounded us
as to leave us for the moment incapable of action.

There was a violent rocking and swaying of the
floor beneath us, of all the mighty levels, the levels
above levels about us, and as this whole strange
world seemed to rock and quake thus about us
there came a distant, thunderous booming detona-
tion that awful, grinding roar continued for mi-
nutes before dying away. Then, as it did die away,
as the levels about us ceased to quake, there came
strange whistling cries from all about and above
and beneath us, a babel of cries of alarm that were
sounding out suddenly over all this hidden world.
We could make out in the distance, through the
dusk that enveloped us, hordes of the flesh-creatures
rushing toward some point, and for a moment Dar-
rell and I regarded each other with astonished won-
der, then gave the thing up as the uproar of alarm
in the levels about us died down somewhat. What-

ever it had been that had caused that tremendous
shock and quake, that had caused the alarm of the
flesh-creatures, we dared not lose time now in the
plan of action that we must carry out.

So, creeping again to the corridor, we gazed
again around its corner and saw that the two guards
in it, shaken and astonished like ourselves by that
great shock and detonation, were holding still their
stations, apparently discussing the thing in their
high, whistling voices. A long moment we looked
toward them, reversing our pistols so that we held
their barrels club-fashion, both Darrell and I haz-
arding a last glance up and down the dim avenue in
which we crouched to make sure that none of the
flesh-creatures were approaching. Then we gath-
ered ourselves there, our eyes upon the two guards,
and then with all the power of our muscles in our
effort were flying through the air in a great leap
toward them t

Fully forty feet down the narrow corridor from
us had been those two guards, but buoyed up as
we were by the infinitely smaller gravity of this
hidden world, we shot down toward and upon them
in a single mighty leap! And as we did so, as we
curved through the air toward them, they had heard
the sound of our jump, had turned swiftly toward
us, their deadly ray-cubes coming up toward us.
But before ever they could loose, the brilliant yellow
death within those cubes we had struck them, had
hurtled down upon them and had knocked the cubes
from their grasp. At the same moment I felt my
own pistol knocked from my grasp by the great
force of our own impact, and then, as weaponless
as the creatures before me, I was struggling wildly
with one of those creatures while Darrell grappled
with the other!

I felt the great, thick arms at the big flesh-mon-
ster’s lower body grip me tightly, bear me to the
floor by all his great weight, while at the same
moment I struck out with all my strength and with
clenched fists at the features of the thing. As we
rolled and swayed there in that flashing moment the
single great staring eye, the strange apertures of
the mouth, were directly beside my own face, with-
in an inch of me, and almost those nightmare fea-
tures so close to my own sickened me into a weak-
ness that would have meant the end. With all thd'
fury of desperate resolution, though, I strove to
hammer the monster into unconsciousness, but
though my blows for the moment made it impos-
sible for the thing to voice any cry of alarm, I felt
my strength fast waning. I had a glimpse of Dar-
rell struggling wildly in that same moment with the
other monster beside me, and then the one who held
me had shifted the grip of his great arms suddenly
to my torso, was tightening instantly upon me those
arms in a spine-crushing grasp !

I struck out again, again, again, in that reeling
moment, but my blows seemed to fall without effect
upon the great flesh-mass with which I struggled.
And rapidly, in that instant, as its great grip tight-
ened vise-like about me, I felt my strength fleeing
from me in stabs of excruciating pain, felt my senses
darkening beneath those thrusts of pain. Then as
from a great distance I heard a dull report, and a
moment later another. And at the second the grip
about me abruptly loosened, and as I staggered up
from my antagonist’s grasp it was to see him quiv-

112

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

ering in a last convulsion of death on the floor, the
other already dead! Over them, ptinting and dis-
hevelled, stood Darrell, his still-smoking pistol in
his hand, with which when all hope seemed lost
he had slain the thing with which he struggled and
then the one that was gripping me.

Now we listened intently for a moment, but
there came no sound of alarm that might indicate
that our shot had been heard by the creatures in
the levels above and beneath. Quickly now Darrell
and I were racing a little farther down the corridor,
were racing down toward that door which the two
flesh-creatures had been set to guard, and into which
we had seen our two friends thrust. In a moment
we had reached that door, a tall door made of the
same transparent or translucent metal as the walls
of all the rooms about us. And there, pressed
against it’s inner side, gazing with wide eyes up the
corridor toward the scene of the battle we had just
taken part in, were the two we sought, were Kelsall
and Fenton!

“Darrell — Vance — !” Kelsall’s astounded voice
came out to us through the little ventilation-holes
set in the door and walls of their transparent cell.
“Darrell — Vance — for God’s sake, how did you two
get down here, down into this hidden world?”
“Kelsall 1” Darrell was pawing eagerly at the
transparent door with myself as he spoke. “We’ve
come after you, Kelsall — after you and Fenton — we
saw you there in the great hall, and saw your
guards bring you here — !”

“But the door!” Kelsall was exclaiming, inside.
“You can never get it open, Darrell — only the lead-
er of the guards that brought me here is able to
open its strange lock, apparently.”

A Single Hope

B UT now, we had discovered for ourselves al-
ready that the great door through which our
friends had been thrust into their cell seemed one
impossible for us to open, seemed one like we had
never seen before. For though we had seen that
door open and close, could see now the great hinges
to one side of it, the strange dial-like arrangement
of a score of studs upon its center that seemed a
combination-lock for it, yet those things were
the only things that indicated the presence of a
door there, since the transparent metal of the door
apparently was entirely integral with the trans-
parent metal of the wall in which it was set ! There
was not the tiniest crack to mark a division between
door and wall, the door itself having melted ap-
parently into the solid wall!

We started at it astounded, and then Kelsall was
explaining swiftly. “It’s the mechanism controlled
by those central studs that locks the door,” he
said. “And it locks* the door by making that door
part of tlje wall around it, by using a molecular-
diffusion force to mix and intermingle the mole-
cules of door and wall at their edges, thus making
of door and wall a single homogeneous substance.
When those studs are pressed in a certain very
complex combination, they reverse that force, and
the molecules of door and wall are sharply divided
at once, making it possible tq swing the door open.
But without knowing that combination, without
using it to reverse that force, you can no more
swing open this door than you can swing open

any section of this wall. And you can’t use those
guards’ ray-cubes to cut through the wall, for
those rays are of such terrific power that they’d
annihilate the whole cell and everything, ourselves,
inside it.”

“But how to get you out, Kelsall?” Darrell asked
in despair. “We have a sphere here and in it we
might get back up the shaft — to earth’s surface — ”

“The only way is to wait until the other guards
return,” Kelsall said. “Their leader alone can open
and close this lock, and they will come back for
Fenton and myself in a few hours. The leaders of
these flesh-creatures hold a last great meeting in
their great hall, and we are to be brought again
before them, since we were given only until then
to accede to their demands, death then being the
penalty if we do not. Therefore, they will take us
out of this cell to take us back to the great hall.
Then you and Vance and Fenton and myself must
attempt to overpower them, and get away in your
sphere. It’s our one chance, for never will you be
able to open this door yourself.”

Darrell nodded. “We’ll do it, Kelsall,” he said.
“And the first thing is to hide these two dead
guards and our sphere — ”

And he and I, turning toward the two dead flesh-
creatures, swiftly grasped them and thrust them out
of sight into one of the numerous store-rooms far-
ther along the corridor, hiding them behind a mass
of mechanisms in that room. We raced back then
to our sphere, and entering it I turned on its lifting
power, whirling its control over, sent it humming
up through the dusk of the great avenue toward its
roof. As it bumped against that roof, hanging there
with the hardly audible hum of its mechanism just
sufficing to keep the big sphere aloft there and out
of sight, I stepped out of it and floated down to the
avenue’s surface. Then, with all prepared for the
coming of the guards, and with the two ray-cubes
of the two slain guards in our pockets, we turned
back toward the door of the transparent cell that
held Kelsall and Fenton, and hid outside that door
in the corridor’s feeble dusk, our voices conversing
through the ventilating-apertures in low tones.

“Darrell — Vance — ,” Kelsall was saying. “Fen-
ton and I were utterly astounded when we heard
your combat in the corridor, looked out to see you
two fighting with the two guards. How did you
ever get down here— down into this world at earth’s
heart — down through this world’s maze of swarm-
ing levels to find us ?”

“We saw you two captured by the flesh-creatures
there when they came up to earth’s surface in their
spheres — ” Darrell said, and then related the events
that had followed, our resolve to follow and rescue
our two friends, our thrilling theft of'fthe great
sphere and our wild flight down the mighty shaft
in it, battling with the two pursuing spheres; our
bursting down through the molten fires about the
shaft into this vast spfice at our earth-shell’s in-
terior, our rush down towayd the hidden world at
its center and our vain search up and down its
swarming levels in our sphere until, following the
other spheres into the great hall, we had seen Kel-
sall and Fenton questioned there and had followed
their guards and themselves to this cell In which we
had found them, slaying their two guards at the
door to reach them.

THE HIDDEN WORLD

113

Kelsall and Fenton listened in astonishment to
this strange tale of our wild journey down after
them, and when Darrell had finished Kelsall shook
his head. “I never imagined that you two would
venture down here after us,” he said. "But you
have done it, and if we four can escape back again
we can bring to our own earth a warning, at least,
of this menace.”

“But warning of what?” I asked swiftly. “What
are these strange flesh-creatures, Kelsall, what their
plans? We have seen the shaft they’ve pierced up
to earth’s surface, we have seen the vast fleet of
spheres they’ve built and have surmised that they
mean to send some great invading party up to
earth’s surface, but why? Why should they leave
this hidden world of which none on earth’s surface
has ever dreamed — which seems incredible to me al-
most even now? What were the four great light-
shafts that they sent up through earth’s shell at
four different spots on earth’s equator, and that we
four came to investigate ? What was that great shock
that made all this world reel but minutes ago? We
heard you and Fenton reply to the creatures in
their own whistling speech there in the great hall,
though I cannot comprehend how you have learned
it in the hours that you have been down here, and
so you must know the answer to some, at least, of
these mysteries 1”

Kelsall’s Tale

K ELSALL was silent for a moment, regarding
me with a strange solemnity through the trans-
parent door. When he spoke his voice was grave,
deep-toned.

“I know the answer to those mysteries, Vance,”
he said, “know now the answer to the mystery that
puzzled us above, to the greater mysteries that we
have penetrated into here. And so that you may
come to know them also, it is necessary that you
and Darrell know what befell Fenton and myself
after our capture there above.

“You saw us captured on the bare clearing’s tip,
and after a futile questioning in their strange
speech, thrust into one of their spheres. I saw you
rising to come to our aid then but waved you back
because I knew that you would be captured like
ourselves or killed. So we were thrust into one of
the great spheres, closely guarded by our captors,
and then our sphere and the score or more that
were about it there on the ground were rising up
and then sinking into the great shaft, leaving the
hundred or more patrolling watchfully above and
leaving three to guard the mouth of the shaft on
the ground about it.

“Down into that great shaft we sank, dropping
at terrific speed with the light-beams of all the
spheres flashing, whirling down at such terrific ve-
locity that I knew within moments that we had
dropped many miles beneath the surface. Then
moments later in our terrific drop there came the
growing heat about us, and then as the glowing
light and heat showed beneath us we were shoot-
ing down through that awful light and heat. Then
finally they moved a knob and the wall and the
sphere became cooler. Between the great shaft’s
walls grown molten now and out at last into this
vast space that lies in the interior of the great
shell of earth we moved, Astounded, Fenton and

They bound us tightly with metal thongs, and un-
able to move a muscle; then turned the projector
upon the upper portion of our skulls.

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SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

I stared as our spheres sank down toward the
world that spun at this great space’s center and
through the opening in the great hall’s roof, our
spheres poising at the edge of the great balcony
there, our guards leading us forth onto it. They
kept close hold upon us and as we stepped out of
the sphere we saw why: that the smaller force of
gravitation upon this world, less even than it
seemed it should have been, made our efforts pro-
duce greater results, made each step of Fenton and
myself send us floating upward.”

“It was to halt this, though, to keep us with them,
that the guards held us closely and watchfully, and
if you saw us there in the great hall yourselves you
must have seen them holding us thus. At that
time, though, the great hall was quite empty, but
in a moment there came onto that balcony to sur-
vey us the twelve flesh-creatures who form what
might be termed the highest executive committee
of this strange civilization. They surveyed us and
the foremost spoke to us in their whistling speech,
but of course we did not understand. He turned
then and gave an order to our guards, who led us
away at once. We walked quite naturally when
held down by them. They led us to this storeroom
whose strange and powerful lock made it suitable
as a prison-cell for us.

“Here, after a little time, there came to us with
guards, three flesh-creatures bearing a conical pro-
jector of some sort connected to masses of intri-
cate apparatus. They bound us tightly with metal
thongs, lying flat on the floor, unable to move
a muscle; then turned this projector upon a certain
portion of the back upper portion of my skull.
There was a droning of apparatus being turned on,
I felt some invisible but powerful force pouring
from that projector into my brain, and then as the
three flesh-creatures altered with wonderful swift-
ness and skill the controls of their strange appara-
tus, increased and decreased the intensity of the
force acting upon me, I felt a comprehension of
the whistling speech-sounds in which they con-
versed coming upon me ! I felt myself understand-
ing, more and more, as that force played upon my
brain, the meaning of that strange whistling speech !

“It was but moments, astounded as I was, before
I realized what they were doing. You know that
the brain is the organ that stores and acquires our
knowledge, and that each new thing we learn is
registered in our brains by a subtle, infinitely subtle,
change in a portion of its structure, in its folds.
The tiny change in the brain’s structure is, there-
fore, the register of our knowledge, since if that
change is existent it will affect all the rest of the
brain’s structure. And if we knew the exact change
produced in the brain by learning a certain fact,
and could take someone ignorant of that fact and
make that exact change in their brain, that person
would at once know that fact perfectly without
ever having heard of it. I would simply mean that
the fact had been impressed upon his brain directly
instead of indirectly through his visual or auditory
nerves.

“It was this fact, one foreshadowed even in our
own world by certain experiments of our psycholo-
gists, which the flesh-creatures were using to give
me an instant and perfect understanding of their
strange whistling speech. For their force projected

upon my brain was altering the very structure of
my brain subtly, was altering it to correspond ex-
actly to the alteration that would have been made
had I actually spent months in learning that speech.
For when they turned off the force finally, when I
arose, it was to find that I understood their speech
perfectly, and that I could speak it to them in a
crude fashion, my human vocal apparatus not being
capable of making all of their whistling sounds. In
Fenton, too, the same thing had been accomplished,
and then the flesh-creatures who had wrought that
swift change in us, had given us that swift knowl-
edge, were conversing at once with us.

“They told us, in that speech, that within a few
hours we should be taken back before those ruling
twelve, now that we could speak to and answer
them. They would question us concerning all phases
of life on the earth above ; the numbers and powers
of its peoples, desiring especially to know whether
any above suspected the existence of this world
hidden at earth’s heart, and also what it had been
that had brought us to the exact spot on earth’s
surface where they had pierced their great shaft up-
ward. Fenton and I, however, told them but litle,
for we planned to help them with no information.
We did, though, in the guise of conversing with
them openly, strive to gain from them information
as to the great mysteries of this strange world and
its peoples and their plans. And they, seeming not
to care if we learned, told us openly enough of
the history and the purpose of their great flesh-
creature races.

The History of the Hidden World

T was in amazement that we heard that history.
For these flesh-creatures existed here on this
spinning world at earth’s heart were, we learned,
a race older by far than any race on earth’s sur-
face, and their world a world older than the great
shell of earth that enclosed it! And as we heard
from them how that world had been formed, in the
far past, as we learned from them the answers to
all those great enigmas that had perplexed us, we
forgot almost our own predicament in the interest
of what we were hearing— the stupendous life-story
of this hidden world !

Ages, unthinkable ages before, they said, our sun,
our star, had moved along through space, with no
planets, a giant flaming single sun. Eons it had moved
alone, until there .came a time when there approached,
out of the galaxy’s vast swarm of stars another star,
a sun heading through space in the general direction
of our own sun, passing our own sun at a vast dis-
tance, yet one which was but small compared to the
usual distances between the stars. And as they passed
the tremendous gravitational attraction of the two suns
had raised upon each other great tides, colossal flam-
ing tides of glowing gases. So immense were those
tides, indeed, that when the two suns had finally passed
each other, were receding from each other, the tides
which they had raised did not recede but swept onward
and broke loose entirely in flaming masses from their
giant suns! And as those vast flaming masses broke
from our own sun they began to circle around it, held
still within its group.

“In this tale of the flesh-creature scientists, indeed,
I recognized the accepted theory of the birth of the
sun’s planets of our own scientists, the theory put

THE HIDDEN WORLD

115

forth by Chamberlin and Moulton and by Jeans and
Jeffreys, in England. And, as the flesh-creatures said,
those great flaming masses began to condense with time
into planets, into great planets spinning about their far
greater sun. There were still, though, immense masses
of the flaming gases still free, still moving about the
sun themselves, but planets had been formed. That
planet that had formed at the distance from the sun

into meteoric materials, those great clouds of meteoric
matter began to be attracted and caught and held by
the new-formed planets. Neptune, farthest out of
all, caught only enough to form one moon which re-
volves about it. Uranus enough to form at least four
moons. Saturn, toward which great masses of the
meteoric material had chanced to be flying, gripped
enough to form around itself the giant rings, as well

Illustration of the author’s conception of the earth’s shell with the “Hidden World”
within it. At “A” the great battle between the defenders of the earth and the invaders

took place.

where earth is now, though, was much smaller than
earth is now, was a small spherical world, was, in fact,
this very hidden world!

“Thus the sun had its eight new-formed planets,
Mercury, Venus and the others, only where earth is
now was only this smaller world. And since, as I
have said, there moved through the solar system still
vast masses of loose flaming gases, condensing swiftly

as a number of large moons and some smaller ones.
Jupiter, too, gripped much of the material, forming
four great moons and a number of smaller ones also.
Between Jupiter and Mars a great belt of this meteoric
material formed of itself, turning itself about the sun
and existing there now. Mars, being out of the path
of most of the great meteoric material masses, caught
only its two little moons, hardly greater than meteors

116

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

themselves.

“But this little world that revolved where earth now
revolves lay in the path of great masses of the wander-
ing matter, and so caught quickly to itself immense
quantities of that matter. They formed about it much
as the similar masses had formed about Saturn, en-
circling the little world completely without touching it.
Only, simce this world was so much smaller than
Saturn, they encircled it on all sides as well as on one
plane, encircled it as a giant shell instead of as a ring!
Formed about it, indeed, a colossal globular shell, hid-
ing it forever from the sun and from outer space. This
giant spherical shell that had a thickness of 1,000 miles
is our own earth.”

CHAPTER VII

How the Hidden World Evolved

UXT OW this vast earth-shell,” Kelsall continued
r^l after a pause, “that had thus formed itself
” around the smaller world was of necessity
almost wholly molten and fiery, from the tremen-
dous heat generated by the rush of its meteoric
materials together to form that great shell. But the
world hidden within it, which had been formed be-
fore the forming of that shell, had already condensed
and cooled somewhat, and as it cooled and solidified
still farther its elements and vapors cooled into
water, into seas that swept its surface while the
vast shell of earth around it was still glowing and
molten. Air had formed too from those condensing
vapors, an atmosphere that filled all the vast space
inside earth, and with air and water, with the cease-
less light and heat beating upon it from the great
molten shell of earth enclosing it, there came at last
to form upon this hidden world the first crude
forms of life.

“In the seas they formed, beginning with the first
jelly-like organisms evolving out of the changing
sea-silt’s elements — the first protoplasm that
evolved slowly as ages passed into higher and
higher forms until at last many creatures moved
upon the lands of this central world while the great
earth-shell was still almost wholly molten. An-
other great mass of the meteoric material had been
caught by earth as it wandered through earth’s
orbit, and that mass had condensed into earth’s
circling moon. But though earth’s outer surface
gradually cooled and solidified, though there began
upon its outer surface the same condensations of
vapors and formation of seas, its inner surface was
still molten, flaming, and in the heat of that inner
surface the hidden world flourished, lit and warmed
perpetually by the molten sphere about it. And at
last, out of the great races of strange creatures that
moved on the hidden world, there rose to dominance
the one race of these flesh-creatures, strange crea-
tures who were the product of the ages of evolution-
ary changes that had taken place there on the hid-
den world, and who with more and more intelli-
gence ruled that world.

"So that, long before any life had appeared on
earth’s surface, the flesh-creatures had waxed to
great power and intelligence on the hidden world
within the earth. They built strange cities upon the
hidden world, cities that grew even larger as their
numbers increased until at last they were forced to
cover all their world with a single great city or
mass of structures. And as time went on they raised

over that city another mass or level of structures,
constructing it as much as possible from transparent
metal so as to allow the level beneath to receive
some share of the light and heat from the enclosing
molten shell. So, through the centuries, they had
added level after level to their city, their world,
until at last all this hidden world lay as it now lies,
with over it a hundred great levels in which swarm
the masses of the flesh-creatures. And in those
levels, upon this world, the flesh-creatures contin-
ued to live on for century after century, age upon
age. Far above on earth’s surface had come the first
stirrings of life also, the first forming of changing,
ascending species that in time were dominated by
the rising races of man. But the flesh-creatures, on
their world, had no interest in the conditions of
earth’s surface and so never ventured on to it.

- “But at last, after age upon age of safe and un-
eventful existence upon their hidden world, the
flesh-creatures came to realize that the end of that
world was at hand, that soon the hidden world
would perish and with it all their races. And the
reason for that was a quite logical one. When this
smaller world had been first enclosed by the earth-
shell, by the great shell of meteoric material that
had formed around it, it had moved about the sun
in the same orbit as earth follows now, but had not
rotated itself at all. This earth-shell that had formed
around it, though, rotated or spun from the first,
formed as it was by the meteoric masses rushing in
whirl-pool-wise around the smaller world. So that
when it had first been formed, earth consisted of a
great shell which rotated once each twenty-four
hours, just as it does now, and a hidden world in-
side that did not rotate at all.

“But gradually, in the following ages, this hid-
den central world had begun to rotate also ! For the
great shell rotating around it pulled at it with a
great gravitational attraction as it revolved, the
gravitational attraction of shell and central world
being in reality a connection between them. And
because of that connection, just as though it were
solid and visible, the hidden inner world had begun
to slowly rotate in the same direction as the rotat-
ing earth-shell around it. Only very slowly at first
did it spin thus, but as age followed age the rate of
its spin steadily increased, accelerated always by
the constant pull of the spinning earth-shell around
it. And so at last, but short months ago, it became
evident to the flesh-creatures that their inner world
was spinning at almost the same speed as earth’s
shell around it, and that it would spin faster and
faster still as time went on until that spinning
would end in its own annihilation !

“For the flesh-creatures calculated that within
months, when the hidden world should have
reached a certain speed of rotation, it could no
longer hold together ! For, you must remember, the
gravitational attraction of this small hidden world
upon its own matter was but small in the first place,
and its matter was under the ceaseless gravitational
pull of all the great shell of earth around it. Now
with that shell pulling its matter outward with
great force, and with the increased centrifugal force
of the spinning world tending ever more strongly to
hurl its own substance outward, it was plain that
before the hidden world should have reached a
speed of rotation equal to that of the earth-shell
around it, it would have broken up! Would break
up, in fact, like a bursting fly-wheel, all the matter

THE HIDDEN WORLD

117

flying off in tremendous masses into the molten
inner shell of earth !

Facing Catastrophe

“'T'HAT meant annihilation, indeed, for the flesh-

JL creatures and all their world. So now they
strove with all their power and craft to devise some
way to escape that annihilation. They decided, at
last, that but one method of escape was open to
them, and that was to surge up to the surface of
earth’s great shell in all their hordes.

“But there was another group among them that
believed that the speed of rotation could be lessened
and the world be saved. They wanted to effectually
brake the speed. They did not believe that their
race could exist on the surface of the earth where
njany conditions would be different.

“So making use of their knowledge they set to
work tampering with atomic structure to get forces
powerful enough to stop the mad rotation of their
world. And they had almost succeeded when they
found that the atomic energy they had released
was causing convulsions in the structure of their
world. That the disintegrating atom was affecting
its neighbor and with great rapidity their world
was being slowly shattered. Those rumbles that
you heard were the signs of it. They are becoming
more and more severe.

“So you can imagine these creatures finding that
instead of thousands of years in which to prepare
for the natural ending of their world they have
literally advanced its date so that now it hangs
over them ready to end them any moment. When
the end will come no one knows.

“The earth-shell, they knew, would not be af-
fected by the bursting of the hidden world inside it,
save for a great shock, perhaps. And upon earth’s
surface they could live, they knew, for though they
would be able to move there only with great efforts,
they could use their mechanical ingenuity to spare
them the necessity of muscular efforts. At any rate,
their last chance lay in emigrating en masse to
earth’s surface at once.

“Their decision was made, therefore, the decision
that all of the flesh-creature hordes should pour up
onto earth’s surface. With their instruments of dis-
tance-vision they had, more than once in past cen-
turies, gazed upon earth’s surface and had seen that
upon it ruled the swarming races of men, but they
knew that with their great spheres and deadly rays
they could annihilate those races. So they began
their plans to pierce a great shaft upward through
earth’s shell, by using a great disk-projector which
would shoot upward from their hidden world a
giant yellow beam that in a moment would cut a
shaft through the earth. That big disk-projector
they had erected exactly upon the equator of their
own inner world, so that its beams would pierce a
shaft up that would have its mouth or opening
exactly upon earth’s equator also, since used as
they were to the ceaseless light and heat of their
world the flesh-creatures planned to take no chances
of emerging at the first into earth’s colder regions.
All was ready to pierce their shaft upward, but one
problem faced them still. And that was, at what
exact spot on earth’s equator should their great
shaft emerge?

"It was a problem of great importance, to them.
For you see that if their great shaft was driven
suddenly upward in a town or city or some place

swarming with men, the alarm would spread over
all earth and before the flesh-creature hordes could
rush up that shaft human forces might have gath-
ered about it to prevent them. And, too, should they
pierce their shaft up through the ocean’s bed, the
result would be that a vast volume of water would
rush down it and spreading out inside earth’s shell
would cause, by contact with the molten inner sur-
face, great cataclysms of exploding steam that
might well wreck all earth. It was vitally necessary,
therefore, that their shaft be pierced up through
some continent, and at a spot on earth’s surface
wild and uninhabited. And to enable them to do
that, to enable them to make sure that their shaft
would be pierced upward at such a spot, they de-
cided first to make use of the distance-vision instru-
ment I have mentioned.

“That instrument was one that projected an in-
tense column or shaft of blue light for any distance
and through any form of matter. It projected also,
at the same time, a smaller beam of white light that
was supersensitive to all changes of light about it,
the white beam appearing as a white circle or spot
of light near the top of the blue column of radiance.
Thus the white circle or beam was in effect a great
eye, which recorded upon itself a swift and ceaseless
picture of all things about it and which transmitted
that picture downward in the form of linked vibra-
tions through the blue shaft of radiance to instru-
ments that enabled the flesh-creatures operating it
to see things as though with that great white eye
of light. For the white beam or spot was in effect,
the eye, whose vision was carried along the blue
shaft that was the nerve, to the instruments where
that vision was reproduced as in the brain. Only,
in this case, eyes and nerve were not of matter but
of light that could penetrate all matter.

“So, beside the great blasting-beam disk which
they had erected on their hidden world’s equator,
the flesh-creatures set up a smaller disk which was
to project the blue vision-shaft upward through
earth’s shell. You must have seen that great and
small disk when you came down over the hidden
world. Then, but a few weeks ago, they put the
thing into operation. They turned on the power of
that smaller disk ^nd at once a brilliant shaft of
blue radiance sprang upward, through the great
shell of earth to emerge upon earth's surface just at
the equator. And that column of blue radiance, ap-
pearing as it did in the native village just north of
Kismaya, was the first of the great light-shafts that
puzzled us on earth.

The Flesh-Creatures’ Plan
“/\NLY for a minute or so did they keep that
blue light-shaft turned on, piercing up there
near Kismaya, and in that minute they were able to
see through it as though a great eye, were able to
perceive with their instruments that that spot was
one in which were many natives, many men. It was,
clearly, not a suitable place for their great passage-
way to be pierced upward, and so they turned off
the blue ray and it vanished above. They planned,
however, to send that blue light-shaft up again
through earth’s shell at its equator, but so that
there would be more chance of finding some spot
suitable for their purpose, planned to send that
vision light-shaft up through earth’s shell at three
more places, each a fourth of the equator’s circumfer-
ence from each other. By doing that, by examining

118

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

with the light-shafts four equi-distant spots around
earth’s equator, they would have a strong chance
of finding in some one of those four spots, at least,
a spot suitable for what they desired, a spot wild
and uninhabitated.

“They did not need to move their disk around
their own hidden world to shoot the light-
shaft up at a different spot. They needed only
to wait until that next spot selected, a fourth
around earth’s equator, had moved directly above
their disk. For as I have said, their hidden world
spun somewhat more slowly than the earth’s shell
about it, and so by waiting for a number of days
the next selected spot on the earth shell’s equator
would be directly over their disk. And within
twenty days and some hours, in fact, that second
spot was directly over their disks, since it took that
length of time for the swifter-spinning earth-shell to
gain a fourth of a rotation on their own spinning
inner world. So when that moment came, when the
next spot a fourth around earth’s equator was over-
head, they again sent the vision shaft stabbing up-
ward, and this time it came through the Pacific on
the equator, just south of Moram Island.

“They could see by means of it that that spot was
on the surface of a great ocean, and that to pierce a
shaft upward there would mean the downrush of
great waters into it. So they snapped out their shaft
and waited again, waited another twenty days and
six and a half hours until the earth-shell around
them had gained another quarter-revolution upon
their inner world, until the spot another fourth
around earth’s equator was above their disks. Then
they sent a third great light-shaft stabbing upward,
and that one emerged in the broad open expanse of
Pacific, emerging on the equator just ahead of the
the Callarnia. They saw that this third spot also was
impossible for them, and so snapped out that light-
shaft also and prepared to wait until the fourth des-
ignated spot would be above their disks. Mean-
while, in all their hidden world, every effort of the
flesh-creatures’ hordes was being used to construct
the mighty fleet of spheres that would carry all
their races up to earth’s surface. And meanwhile
also, we four, on earth’s surface, had resolved to
solve the mystery of these strange light-shafts and
were making our way to the spot where we had
calculated that the fourth would appear.

“And our calculations were right, as you know.
For when the interval had elapsed, when the fourth
spot on earth’s equator was directly over their disks,
the flesh-creatures sent their fourth light-shaft stab-
bing upward. Through it they saw, at once,
the land and that it was as uninhabited and wild
as they desired, a great jungle expanse about it.
They had found their required spot, and so at once,
snapping out the light-shaft of vision, they turned on
the other titanic greater disk beside it, the giant
disk that sent a colossal yellow disintegrating beam
stabbing upward! And that beam, driving up with
all its colossal blasting power, in an instant had
pierced a great shaft straight up through earth’s
shell, driving that shaft almost instantaneously up
and out of earth’s surface before our eyes.

“Now at the moment when the great shaft was
driven upward, the flesh-creatures had assem-
bled and ready upon their world more than a hun-
dred of their great spheres with their flesh-monster
crews, all being equipped with the deadly yellow
beams. And in the moment after the shaft was

blasted upward, these scores of spheres shot up at
once from the hidden world, up and through that
shaft at terrific speed, their light-beams flashing,
up to earth’s surface the first of all the great hordes
of flesh-things that were to follow ! For though the
shaft had been pierced up and all was ready for the
flesh-thing races to pour up through it their mighty
fleet of spheres was not yet quite finished, would
not be finished for another day or two. So these
hundred or more spheres were sent up tO' guard the
great shaft’s mouth, to prevent any who might dis-
cover it from giving the alarm or trying to wreck
the shaft itself.

“Fenton and I running from them, toward the
clearing’s tip, were seen; instantly they were after
us, captured us, and were taking us down as prison-
ers to this hidden world within earth. And when
they had brought us down here, before their twelve
rulers, those rulers had ordered them to give us at
once knowledge of their speech so that they might
converse with us. This they had done, by means of
that strange brain-alteration mechanism, and when
we had found ourselves able to understand them
had told us these things concerning the history and
the plans of the flesh-creature races.

Withering Doom

A ND it was a tale, that, which Fenton and 1
heard with growing horror. For we saw
that these beings could do that which they planned,
could surge up onto earth’s surface in all their
hordes in their numberless spheres and in those
spheres could sally out over earth and annihilate
mankind. And our horror was deepened when we
learned how near to earth was this doom of which
we had just learned. For, we found, the last prep-
arations were even then being made, the last
spheres of their tremendous fleet were being com-
pleted. Within hours, within hardly more than a
day, in fact, all those spheres would be complete,
and gathered in the lowest levels of this strange
world, the hordes of flesh-creatures of all that world
would be pouring into them. And then those spheres
in all their countless thousands would be rising up-
ward through the mighty shaft onto earth’s sur-
face. And once they had passed up through that
shaft, once they had emerged onto earth’s surface,
no power upon earth could stay the doom that
would be mankind’s.

“Almost ready were they to rush forth over earth,
indeed, and they needed to be so since here in their
hidden world their own doom was almost upon
themselves! For it was fast approaching. Their
scientists had calculated that within less than two
days more, in fact, the long-awaited explosion of
their disintegrating world would occur, and its
great mass would break up, would go flying out-
ward in millions of pieces. So they had strained
every effort to complete their spheres before that
time to rush up through the great shaft but a short
hour or two, in fact, before the final cataclysm of
their world comes, so closely were they pressed for
time. And even as the flesh-things told me this there
came a great warning of the cataclysm that was
almost upon them.

“For about us even then the whole hidden world
seemed to reel and quiver violently, while to our
ears came a tremendous distant grinding and roar-
ing sound. When that had died a great alarm spread
across all the hidden world, through all its swarming

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119

levels, and then a little later we learned from the
flesh-things guarding us, what had happened. A
great section of this hidden world had just then
suddenly jerked loose from it and gone flying out
toward the molten encircling earth-shell about us!
And it was another such great throwing-out of part
of this inner world’s mass, without a doubt, that
caused the similar shock and alarm but a little while
ago, while you, Darrell and Vance, were creeping
toward our two guards here. For as this hidden
world approaches the point when it will break up
completely, these great shocks are giving warning
of that mighty, impending cataclysm!

“That first great shock, indeed, sent alarm over
all the hidden world, made the swarming flesh-crea-
tures in it redouble their efforts upon their great
fleet of spheres that was almost now completed.
For they knew that even with their greatest efforts
they would not be able to rush upward and escape
from the hidden world but a short hour or so before
its final breakup comes. And also they were fearful
now that if another great mass were to jerk loose
from this spinning world and happen to strike the
opening above of their great shaft through earth’s
shell, it would wreck that shaft completely and thus
trap them here inside earth’s shell to be annihilated
by the giant flying masses when the moment of
this world’s final breakup came.

“So they worked on furiously at the great spheres.
Our guards had told us that we had nothing to hope
from any above, that the hundred spheres were
still guarding the mouth of the great shaft on
earth’s surface, and so we never dreamed of you,
Darrell and Vance, being able to get down here to
us. We had been told, also, that another hundred
spheres had been sent up to relieve the first hun-
dred, the first party coming back down. For though
the spheres can run for great periods, though the
flesh-creatures with their fatigue-neutralizing fluid
need neither sleep nor rest, the projectors that shoot
forth the deadly yellow rays must be charged with
new stores of the ray, new supplies of electronic
force, whenever exhausted. And they knew that the
guarding spheres above would be using their rays
on everything that approached the shaft, on every
sign of danger, and a relief party with full ray-
charges relieves the old for the time being, the
others coming back down to renew their own ray-
charges.

“Hardly had they told us this, though, than there
sounded out through all the levels of this strange
world that great whistling call, that great sound
that was the signal to call the officials of each level
to the great central hall. For each level has its
scores of officials and there is a single flesh-creature
who rules over each level. Of these hundred level-
rulers are formed the ruling body of all the hidden
world, of all the flesh-creatures, and it was by them
that we had been already examined. Now as the
officials rushed toward the great hall in their
spheres, hanging there in those spheres since in
that way they could all enter the hall and remain
in it conveniently, Fenton and I were taken by our
guards there also. There, behind the great balcony,
we heard the leader of the twelve rulers speaking
to the assembled officials, telling them that the great
fleet of spheres was almost finished but that they
must put every effort into the completion of them
within the next hours. For, as he told them, it had
been calculated that within twenty-four more hours,

almost exactly, there would come the final breakup
of their world, and they must needs have the
spheres finished and be rushing up to earth’s surface
before that final cataclysm came.

What Hope?

“ r T~'HEN, at his order, Fenton and I were led out
onto the balcony, all the great spheres hanging
before us there in the mighty hall. We never
dreamed, of course, that you two, that Darrel and
Vance, were hidden in one of those spheres and
watching us. When the leader spoke to us it was
to tell us that our world was doomed and that our
only hope of life lay in the mercy of them, the flesh-
creatures. Within a score or more of hours, he said,
all the flesh-things in their thousands of spheres
would be rushing up to earth’s surface, to spread
out over it and to loose upon man and the races of
man an annihilation they could not resist. He said,
though, that they desired to strike their first blows
directly at the greatest cities of earth, to annihilate
those cities and all in them with their countless
spheres and their rays in their first attack. It would
save time for them, therefore, if we two were to
pilot their great attacking forces to those cities
when they emerged upon earth.

“To that proposition I answered only with the flat
refusal of Fenton and myself. For even were we to save
our own lives, in that way or in any other, of what value
to us would be a life on an earth peopled only with the
monstrous flesh-creatures? So we refused, and when
we did refuse the great leader of the flesh-things told
us that death would be our lot if we continued in that
refusal. For, he said, the rulers and officials of the flesh-
things would assemble there again in the great hall just
before their races poured up to earth’s surface in their
great sphere-fleet, ten hours from then. And if we con-
tinued to refuse then, he said, instant death would be
ours. To his words, though, both Fenton and I spoke
only a single word of refusal still, and then, as a great
stir of anger swept through those in the spheres before
us, the leader had ordered us taken back to this prison-
cell to await that last meeting in the great hall at which,
before their mighty armada rose upward, we would
meet their demands or die.

“So we were brought back here, into this cell, and
having been locked within it were left with two guards
at our door. We heard and felt soon another great
quivering and shock of the world about us, knew as
we heard the resulting alarm that another mass of this
hidden world’s substance had jerked out from it, an-
other great warning that the final cataclysm was near at
hand. And then came a sudden wild combat in the cor-
ridor outside and we saw you, Darrell and Vance, whom
we had thought far above on earth’s surface, leaping
upon our two guards. And so now, Darrell and Vance,
you know what we have seen and learned in this hidden
world since we were brought down captives into it but
little more than a day ago, know as we do what doom
these races of the hidden world, these great flesh-
creatures, plan to loose upon our own races of men.”

Darrell and I sat silent there, in the dusk of the cor-
ridor outside the transparent door, as Kelsall’s voice
ceased. Through that dusk I could see that Darrell’s
face was as white and tense as my own, that he even as
I was in that moment realizing for the first time the
full horror of the doom that was rising upon our earth.
Then, his voice came sounding strange and thin to my
ears.

“But is there any hope of halting this thing?” he

120

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

said. “Is there any hope, even if we get you out of
here, of halting this invasion that will sweep over our
earth ?”

Kelsall slowly shook his head. "There is but little
hope, I think. For even if we escape up from this hid-
den world to earth’s surface, the hordes of the flesh-
things in their spheres will be pouring up behind us.”
“But we could at least warn the peoples of earth of
the impending attack before that attack falls upon
them!” I exclaimed, and Kelsall nodded.

“That is the one hope left us, Vance,” he said. “Yet
even if we can carry that warning to mankind I do not
think, myself, that man can stand before the terrific
attack that these creatures will loose upon earth with
their rushing spheres and blasting rays. But as it’s our
one chance left we’ll put our lives on it.”

Awaiting the Hour

H E WAS silent, and were Darrell and Fenton and I
there in the dusk of cell and corridor. In that cor-
ridor and those about it, through the maze of store-
rooms and transparent-walled halls that lay about us,
there moved still none of the flesh-creatures. Yet in all
the rest of this strange world about us, in all the swarm-
ing levels about and above and beneath us, there seethed
still the prodigious activity which Darrell and I had
seen and which appeared now to be rising to a great
crescendo of sound and activity as one by one the last
twenty-four hours passed, as hour by hour that final
hour approached which would see the flesh-hordes
whirling upward. For at the end of that time as a limit,
as Kelsall had said, their calculations had informed
them that this spinning world of theirs could no longer
be in existence, so that they worked now with an utter
intensity of effort to finish their last preparations and
escape from their doomed world.

Even from the dusky corridor we could glimpse
vaguely, through the transparent walls and levels about
us, the rushing movements of the hordes of flesh-crea-
tures about us. It seemed to us that now the great
sphere-fleet had been completed, since the great clangor
of metal upon metal from the lowest levels was no
longer coming to us. Now, though, apparently, the flesh-
things were engaged in loading into those spheres the
equipment and weapons which they were to take with
them. We saw some of them busy charging the great
ray-containers of their spheres, fitting those weapons
back into those spheres; could see others who were
swiftly disassembling into sections the great cylindrical
machines which manufactured their food-liquid, the
other mechanisms that turned out their metals, and
loading those disassembled mechanisms also into their
countless great spheres.

Once, too, Darrell and I were forced to shrink back
from our position in the corridor as there raced along
the avenue to the side of it a group of a score or more
of flesh-creatures who swiftly selected the mechanisms
they desired from the store-rooms beyond us, and load-
ed those into other spheres also. But they had passed
beyond us and out of sight in the dusky halls in a
moment more, the greater part of the mechanisms and
the materials stored in the rooms about us being ignored
by them. It was evident that they were taking with them
to earth’s surface only the essential mechanisms, those
for the creation of food and metal and power, as well
as their great weapons. For, as well we knew, with
those mechanisms and with the science that was theirs
they could swiftly enough draw out of the exhaustless
materials of earth’s surface what materials they needed,

could create out of those materials with their great
electronic element-changing mechanisms what sub-
stances and forms they needed.

While all this last climactic roar of activity and
sound went on about us we four remained there, Dar-
rell and I outside that impenetrable transparent door
and Kelsall and Fenton within it. And dark and strange
enough were our thoughts then, as hour after hour
sped by thus, as moment by moment the last hour ap-
proached. For we knew that only when the guards
came to take Kelsall and Fenton before the last great
meeting in the great hall could we hope to rescue them.
And we know, too, that that would be but minutes be-
fore the assembled countless spheres and hordes of the
flesh-things poured upward, so that even did we win
clear to earth’s surface by some miracle the invading
masses would be close behind us. Yet we knew, as well,
that, even had we been willing to leave our friends
to death, we could not hope even in the sphere to win
undiscovered through the wild uproar of activity that
was now going on in all about us as the last hour ap-
proached, as the last preparations were made. It was
only when all the flesh-things had entered their
spheres, only at the last moment indeed, that we dared
risk our break upward.

Once, though, in those last terrible hours in which
we four waited with darkening thoughts for the com-
ing of the guards, there came a break to the ceaseless
activity in the levels about us. That was when, without
warning, another great shock shuddered through the
world about us, the floor heaving beneath us and all
about us trembling violently as the grinding, immense
sound came to us from far away. So violent was that
shock, indeed, that the transparent metal roof high
above us, the floor of the level over ours, bulged
downward and cracked swiftly along one side, making
us fear for the moment that a great section of it was
coming down upon us. It held, though, and in moments
more the great babel of cries of alarm that the shock
had caused in all the world about us had died away and
the work about us was going on more swiftly and furi-
ously than ever.

“Another shock!” exclaimed Kelsall to us, his eyes
wide. “Further signs of the end — another warning that
this world’s doom is at hand !”

“And at hand soon,” said Darrell. “It’s less than a
half-dozen hours now to the last hour you mentioned
— these flesh-things must finish swiftly if they’re to
escape from here before then !”

The Last Call

B UT that great quake that had just shaken their
world seemed to have spurred the flesh-things
about us, above and beneath, to even greater efforts.
All about us we could now see them in the distance,
working furiously to load the last of their equipment
into the great spheres, rushing madly now to complete
their last preparations. For they knew, even as Darrell
had said, that within a few hours now their spinning
world would be bursting into death, and that they must
escape up the shaft to earth’s surface before that took
place. So, pressed on thus by utter necessity, they were
rushing like iniane beings upon their last tasks, were
placing in the countless spheres of their fleet the last
of their equipment and weapons that would enable them
to conquer earth’* face.

With a growing suspense, now, Darrell and Kel-
sall and Fenton and I waited there, as those last
hours passed. One by one, each hour seeming ceaseless

THE HIDDEN WORLD

121

to us, they dragged by, until at last but little more than
a single hour remained before the moment of the last
great cataclysm. By that time the last preparations
appeared to have been completed about us, for now the
wild clanging uproar of intense activity in all the hid-
den world’s levels appeared to have dwindled, ceased
almost entirely. We could see the flesh-things hurrying
toward the great spheres, which had been brought up
from the lower levels now and filled all the levels about
us, apparently, though in the narrow corridors and ave-
nues about us none were passing. We saw the flesh-
thing hordes pouring into those spheres, knew with a
growing tenseness that the time of our chance, the mo-
ment when we could alone rescue our two friends, was
approaching. Then suddenly, through the strange si-
lence that had fallen thus quickly upon all the hidden
world’s levels, there sounded a mighty whistling note
that shrilled through the air to our ears from far away !

“The signal!” Kelsall exclaimed. “The signal that
calls the rulers and officials of the flesh- races to the
great hall — it means that they’re preparing to start up-
ward, that we’ll be brought before them for the last
time !”

“Then at any moment the guards will be here for
you !” said Darrell. “And now is our chance to get you
free — Vance, you know what we must do ?”

I nodded quickly, for Darrell and I had in those wait-
ing hours evolved the plan by which we hoped to get
our friends free and destroy the guards who would
come to release them. With a quick glance out into the
main avenue from which the corridor branched I as-
sured myself that our own great sphere was still hang-
ing out of sight against the ceiling of this level. Then
Darrell and I waited, listening intently, crouching still
against the door of our two friends’ prison. The silence
that had fallen upon the levels of the world about us
was almost complete, now, but we could see within
those levels countless massed spheres filling now with
the last hordes of the flesh-things, other spheres of offi-
cials or the like that were rushing across the levels to-
ward the great hall to which the whistling summons had
called them. Then there came the sound of approach-
ing steps, of a group of flesh-creatures marching quickly
down the avenue toward our corridor !

Standing erect, we leapt to the corridor’s edge and
peered down the avenue, to see in it, approaching us,
eight great flesh-thing guards, armed all with ray-
cubes, the eight guards indeed who with their two fel-
lows whom we had slain had brought Kelsall and Fen-
ton to this cell. Already they were near to our corridor,
and as we saw them Darrell and I leapt back toward the
door of our friends’ cell, and then, with a greater effort,
leapt upward. Instantly we had shot up to the very
roof of the corridor, high in the dusk above, floating
smoothly up toward it and hovering for a moment be-
neath it. There we reached swiftly toward the great
crack that had opened in that roof, hooked our fingers
inside it, and thus hanging there high in the dusk from
the corridor’s ceiling, awaited the coming of the guards.
We could have hung by one finger, indeed, so small
was our weight against the lesser gravitation of this
strange world.

Hanging there thus high in the dim twilight that
reigned about us, we heard the steps of the eight guards
approaching, saw them in a moment turn into the cor-
ridor beneath us. They did not, of course, give even a
glance up toward us, but as they paused before the door
of our two friends’ cell we heard whistling exclamations
from them, exclamations as though of surprise.

Their leader was looking about him, we could
see, and it was evident that he was astonished
to find that the two guards he had left before the cell’s
door were nowhere to be seen. I feared, in that moment,
that he was about to conduct a search for them, knew
that such a search would disclose their bodies in the
nearby store-room where they were hidden and thus
frustrate our last chance. But apparently time was so
pressing now as the last hour of the hidden world’s life
approached that the leader dismissed the problem of the
two missing guards from his mind, seeing that his two
prisoners were safe inside the cell.

For after another glance around, we saw him turn
toward the door, reach his tentacle-like finger-appen-
dages toward the score of studs set at that transparent
door’s center. One by one he was pressing them, in a
certain complex combination, pressing them for some
moments until there came a sudden low hum of force
from some mechanism set behind those studs. At once
straight cracks appeared in the solid transparent wall,
cracks that outlined a high door, and then the leader
reached forth and had swung that door easily open on
its great hinges, at the same time motioning Kelsall and
Fenton to step outside. And as they did so the eight
guards stood before them with their ray-cubes retained
watchfully in their grasp.

But now as Darrell and I, hanging there in the dusk
high above, saw Kelsall and Fenton step among those
guards, we reached in our pockets, grasped our own ray-
cubes which we had taken from the two guards we had
slain. Quickly, with the little ray-opening pointing
downward and with our thumbs upon the buttons in the
cubes that released their rays. Then as Kelsall and Fen-
ton stepped out among the flesh-creatures Darrell and
I released suddenly our holds upon the ceiling-crack
and dropped smoothly downward toward the guards be-
neath! As we did so I uttered a quick, sharp cry and
instantly Kelsall and Fenton had leaped sidewise to-
ward the avenue and at the same moment, as the guards
looked swiftly upward for the source of that cry, Dar-
rell and I had pressed the button-controls of our cubes
and sent our yellow blasting rays stabbing down among
them !

The Battle in the Corridor

f ■ 'HERE was a sharp little detonation from beneath
in the next instant and at the same moment two of
the eight guards beneath us abruptly vanished, anni-
hilated by those rays ! We had not dared to use the full
power of our ray-cubes, since to do so would have
blasted downward such a hole through the level’s floor
as would have given the alarm instantly in all the
world about us. But we had at least been able to make
the odds more even, and now before the astounded six
remaining guards could collect themselves, could loose
their rays upon us, Darrell and I were falling upon
them from above and at the same moment Kelsall and
Fenton had leaped back upon them, so that in the next
moment we four earth-men and the six great flesh-
creatures were grappling there in a wild struggle in the
narrow corridor !

They dared not use their own ray-cubes in that fierce
hand-to-hand struggle, we knew, lest they annihilate
their own fellows, and for the same reason Darrell and
I had dropped our cubes as we leaped down onto them.
We had, though, at the same moment whipped our pis-
tols from our belts and using the heavy automatics
again in club-fashion were dealing great blows with
all our force at the creatures before us. In that first

122

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

stunning moment of amazement for them we four had
leaped upon them with such fierceness that the fury of
our attack staggered them, sent them reeling back
against the wall, one of them beaten down to the floor
even in that moment by our great blows !

Only the immensely increased power of our earth
muscles on this smaller world it was, we knew, that en-
abled us even to strive against those great monsters, but
as it was we had already stretched one of them dead
upon the floor with our terrific blows and were strug-
gling toward the main avenue, toward our sphere that
rested at its ceiling, despite the wild efforts of the crea-
tures that had gripped us. Their ray-cubes they had

dropped at the beginning of our wild hand-to-hand
struggle, but with all their great strength they sought
to bear us downward, to overcome us. I heard a hoarse
exclamation from Kelsall, saw that two of the creatures
had gripped him, were pulling him down, overpowering
him, and instantly I was at his side. Then, with a ter-
rific effort that only our ultra-powerful muscles in this
world’s lesser gravitation could ever have accomplished,
we four had gripped the massed five flesh-monsters be-
fore us and had flung them from us, had flung them
with all our power back down the corridor through
which we had struggled, back toward the open cell-door !

The next moment we had gathered ourselves, were on
the point of making a swift leap up toward our sphere
that hung at the avenue’s ceiling high above us, to es-
cape outward in that sphere. But at that moment, at the
instant that we paused for our upward leap, there came
a hoarse cry from Darrell and we whirled to see him
pointing back down the corridor, with trembling finger.
And as we wheeled to glance there, we stood in that
moment as petrified as he. For there where Darrell and
I had dropped upon the flesh-creatures, where we had
just flung our five antagonists, there stood those five
flesh-creatures. They had grasped from the floor the
ray-cubes that had been dropped there at the beginning
of our wild battle and now were raising those deadly
cubes straight toward us 1

CHAPTER VIII
Intervention of Fate

I N THAT MOMENT it seemed .to me that the
whole rushing scene of wild action in which we had
taken part in the last moments had been converted
suddenly into some set tableau, so motionless did we
stand for that instant as we faced death. Another mo-
ment, we knew, would see the yellow rays leaping forth
upon us. Never even with our unearthly agility could
we reach those flesh-creatures before they loosed those
rays. It was the end, at last — the end of all our great
efforts to escape, to carry a last warning to our world.
The end —

But in the next instant, as we stared toward those
cubes from which death would leap upon us, there came
a sudden tremendous heaving and rolling of the floor
beneath us, a violent shock that shook all the levels of
the hidden world about us and that made the five flesh-
creatures down the corridor stagger even as we! A

From that new position our rays were driving shafts of instant annihilation down;
through their now huddled disorganized mass. A third of their number was annihilated.

THE HIDDEN WORLD

123

great shock that made all the world about us quiver, giv-
ing rise to a far uproar of alarm, and that made the
section of roof or ceiling above the corridor, above the
llesh-creatures, which was already cracked, crack far-
ther, break loose and whirl downward! Downward it
fell and in another moment had crashed down full upon
the mass of five flesh-creatures who held their ray-
cubes toward us !

The next moment they had disappeared beneath that
great mass of transparent metal, four of them crushed
to instant death by it and the other one knocked back-
ward as it struck him glancingly, knocking the ray-cube
from his grasp ! Backward he reeled into the corridor’s
dusk, and at that moment there came from above and
beneath and from far across all the hidden world’s
levels, in which waited the countless spheres loaded now
with the vast hordes of the flesh-creatures and all their
weapons, a great far-reaching cry of fear and alarm.
For it was another great jerking loose of matter from
this disintegrating world !

“Up to the sphere !” Kelsall was crying wildly now.
“Up to the sphere and out of -this world — its final hour
is almost here now J”

In a second we were leaping up toward the open
round door of our sphere, hanging at the ceiling of the
avenue high above us. Our great leaps sent us whirling
up smoothly through the dusk like swimmers rising to
the surface, and as we caught the edge of the sphere’s
open door, drew ourselves inside, I leaped to the
sphere’s controls. Its mechanism was still humming
slightly, with the power required to keep it aloft thus,
but now as Kelsall slammed shut the door I had gripped
the two control-wheels and had sent the sphere leaping
forward and downward through the great avenue. But
even as I did so Darrell was crying out, behind me, and
as I spun the sphere half-around, glanced for an instant
behind us, I saw that along the avenue from behind, a
score or more of other great spheres were rushing upon
us !

My first wild impulse was to send our own sphere
leaping forward in mad flight, but the next moment I
realized that the rushing spheres behind us were not
pursuing us but were of those rushing toward the great
central hall in answer to the whistling summons that
had sounded moments ago. To flee from before them
would be to excite their instant suspicion, so, as they
drew closer to us, I held the sphere steady with them,
their occupants never guessing but what our own great
globe held officials bound, like themselves, for the last
great meeting in the central hall. Kelsall and Fenton
were gazing tensely at the spheres behind us, Darrell
ready at the controls of our sphere’s rays, all of us
crouching down to avoid the gaze of any who might
chance to survey us.

“They’re going toward the central hall,” I said to the
others as we shot onward among those rushing spheres.
“They’re taking us with them !”

“Keep with them, then !” Kelsall exclaimed. “If we
leave them now it will arouse their suspicions at once !”

“And the wells 1” Fenton cried. “The wells are shut
out to us by the massed spheres gathered around them
and waiting to go! We’ll have to try to escape from
the great hall itself !”

I saw that what Fenton said was true, that about
those wells that led upward through the hidden world’s
levels were gathered now countless ranks of motion-
less spheres, waiting for the command that would send
them upward. To force our way through them and up
out of a well now would be to challenge instant dis-

covery, so with a strange dread growing in my heart I
kept our sphere racing onward with those about it, to-
ward the great hall. And surely that flight of Kelsall
and Darrell and Fenton and myself, across this dim-
lit level of the hidden world at earth’s heart was with-
out parallel. For all about us stretched those massed
ranks of our enemies, and it was only here and there
that there moved still outside of them a few flesh-crea-
tures. A tremendous silence seemed to reign over all this
world as its last great hour approached.

But now our rushing sphere and those about us were
nearing their goal, the great high door or opening that
led from the fifty-ninth level out over the balcony
into the great central hall. One by one the spheres shot
through that great door, and as our own followed them,
I was aware of the twelve rulers gathered there on the
balcony, surveying the spheres.

The Last Conference

A S unobtrusively as possible, I sent our sphere
worming forward and upward slowly through
the thronging spheres about us. The spheres were shift-
ing their own positions slightly as though in anxious
restlessness, as they waited for their last fellows to enter
the great hall, for their leaders to speak to them. From
the opening of the sixth level around the hall, now, the
last of the summoned spheres were rushing into the
hall, taking their places among the masses around us,
but I knew that in a few moments more we would have
made our way up through those masses to the opening
above. Already hope was flickering stronger in me, but
then suddenly it died. For the centermost of the twelve
creatures on the balcony, the leader of the twelve rulers,
had at last risen and stepped out to that balcony’s edge.
And as he did so all the spheres in the great hall had
ceased abruptly their restless movements and hung mo-
tionless, awaiting his words.

As they did so I halted instantly the upward move-
ment of our own sphere, though with a groan on my
lips. For I knew that with all other globes motionless
in the great hall about us our own, striving to make its
way upward to the opening through them, would be
instantly noted, and we as instantly discovered. So with
the opening in the roof still a few hundred feet above
us and with massed spheres between us and it, our own
globe hung motionless among those others. Meanwhile
the flesh-leader who had stepped to the balcony's edge
was surveying the assembled spheres before him as we
had seen him do before. And we noted, in that moment,
that beside the balcony there hung a single sphere also
which was of black metal instead of the gleaming metal
which formed all the Test, and that waited there with
its door open. It was, we comprehended at once, the
sphere in which the twelve rulers there on the balcony
would lead the others upward, up through the shaft to
earth’s surface !

The creature standing there at the great balcony’s
edge began speaking in his strange whistling tones. And
as we listened, Darrell and Kelsall and Fenton listening
as intently to him as myself, it seemed to me, despite
myself, that in that scene was something of a grandeur
of majesty of power that was none the less real though
in no way human. The ruler was speaking to his peo-
ples, no doubt about their great migration upward from
this world that had been their home always. Awed de-
spite ourselves we listened, and as we listened Kel-
sall, beside me, was swiftly translating to us the words
of the thing on the balcony.

“He says,” whispered Kelsall rapidly, “that we

There came from the hidden world spinning far beneath them, a colossal thunderous,
roar. The sphere of the hidden world was breaking into colossal fragments.

124

THE HIDDEN WORLD

125

flesh-creatures (I am using his own words) are on
the eve of the most important, most colossal event
that has ever occurred in our history. For number-
less ages we have dwelt upon this world of ours,
this world that lies at the heart of the great shell
of earth. But now a fate has crept upon this world,
which, according to our scientists, will cause its
final tremendous annihilation. For now all about
us there waits our great fleet of spheres that holds
all our races, and in that fleet we are about to leave
this inner world of ours forever, to burst out upon
the outer surface of earth’s shell and take possession
of it for ourselves.

“You have been told, though, that that outer sur-
face is peopled, and you have seen the two prisoners
of those peoples brought down here, prisoners even
now being brought here for a last hearing of our
demands. Those peoples of earth’s surface, though,
have not the science or the weapons that our older
race has developed and they cannot stand before us.
And the word which we leaders give to you now at
the last, and to all our spheres and hordes, is to
strike out with all your powers to annihilate all
those peoples, from the first moment that we
emerge onto earth’s surface. Not one of them must
we leave living upon the face of earth! For it is
only by wiping out entirely every vestige of life
upon earth’s face except for ourselves that we our-
selves can bring all earth’s surface to our will, and
can hold it for ourselves forever.”

The creature upon the balcony paused, and as
Kelsall finished his quick, whispering translation
beside us I saw his face and those of Darrell and
Fenton as white and grim with horror as my own.
At those words of the great flesh-monster, though,
a wave of wild excitement seemed to surge through
all the occupants of the massed spheres about us,
those spheres swirling and tossing about as from
their occupants there came great whistling cries
that merged into a single roar of strange voices.
Fenton turned toward us, his face tense.

“You heard him say that the two prisoners were
being brought to this hall!” he exclaimed. “That
means that we must escape from here now if at
all!”

“We’ve got to chance it!” Darrell agreed. "For
they’ll learn in moments now that their prisoners
have escaped!”

Discovered !

I GRIPPED the two control-wheels, then looked
upward. A great mass of spheres lay still be-
tween us and the roof-opening high above us, but
now in their occupants’ excitement those spheres
were moving jerkily about, bumping to this side and
that against each other, and I saw that it was, truly,
our last chance to get out of this great hall. So, care-
fully and slowly, I sent our own sphere rising up-
ward again, up through the swarming globes above
us toward the great opening. With Darrell and Fen-
ton and Kelsall as tense beside me as myself, I kept
our great globe slowly rising, bumping each mo-
ment against the spheres above and about us !

Up — up — those moments in which we rose saw
our hope rising stronger within us, for we knew
that moments more would bring us up to and
through the opening. Suddenly there rang out from
the great balcony, over the ruler’s voice, a wild
whistling cry! A great cry of alarm at which we
turned to see. There upon the balcony by the twelve

rulers, a single flesh-creature who had staggered
out through the door toward them ! A single flesh-
creature whom we recognized instantly, by his
battered appearance, as that single guard who had
escaped the falling metal that had destroyed his
fellows. He was crying something in his whistling
voice, and as he did so there came another and
greater cry from the ruler, and an uproar of wild
cries and confusion seemed suddenly to break out
inside the great hall.

Kelsall whirled toward us, his face white. “That
guard !” he cried to us. He told them we escaped in
a sphere — and they’ll find us here in seconds, now!”

Even as Kelsall cried that, indeed, all the hanging
spheres that had poised about us were rushing in
confused swarms here and there in the great hall,
their occupants peering into each other’s spheres
and flashing their light-beams into them, searching
for us ! And in the next moment one just beside us
had flashed its beam through our window and a
whistling cry of discovery went up from that sphere
as its beam caught and held us in our own great
globe! We were discovered!

“Up to the opening !” Darrell yelled, beside me.
“Smash up through them to the opening, Vance —
they’ve found us!”

But even as he shouted that to me I had whirled
over the control wheels and had sent our sphere
rushing at top-speed upward ! Crash — crash — into
the spheres above us we drove, flashing bullet-like
up among them in that moment even as they
whirled there in wild confusion ! Beneath us, from
the sphere that had discovered us, there seared up-
ward a quick ray of yellow death, but before it could
find its marke we were above it and that yellow ray
had struck two spheres beyond us, had annihilated
them instantly ! But still we were crashing upward
among the swarming spheres above us until in the
next flashing instant I saw that a flat solid mass of
them had grouped there above us to bar our prog-
ress, and since to crash into such a mass squarely
was to annihilate ourselves I shot our sphere side-
wise from them, dodging like light among the swirl-
ing scores of spheres to our right!

All the mighty hall was in such a wild confusion
of mad excitement in that moment that all things
about us seemed a mad panorama of wildly-whirl-
ing spheres as I drove our own globe sidewise. For
all the massed spheres in the great hall were swarm-
ing furiously and swiftly and aimlessly about it like
a great furious swarm of aroused bees ! They dared
not, in that moment, loose their rays upon us, upon
our swift-flashing globe, lest they annihilate their
fellows as one ray had already done. But no such
consideration held us, and as we shot sidewise to
avoid that solid mass of spheres above us I heard
Darrell’s yell of defiance, as he gripped our ray-
control ! And then glimpsed our sphere’s rays driv-
ing out to right and left and above and beneath us.
driving out from all the spheres six ray-openings
and cutting dazzling yellow lanes of death and
nothingness through the massed whirling spheres
about us as we shot sidewise and upward !

That terrific moment of wild rushing movement
and battle seemed extended in that moment to an
indefinite period of time, and though our sphere
was leaping upward now toward the opening like a
rifle-bullet it seemed to me then to be floating
slowly upward only. I saw in that moment the
twelve rulers there on the balcony far at the great

126

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

hall’s end, rushing into their own waiting sphere,
and then as we flashed upward through the swarms
around and above us, there was coming from all
around us still the sharp detonations of the striking
rays that Darrell was loosing on all the globe-ships
about us !

Now, too, the flesh-creatures’ rays were stabbing
from all sides toward us, regardless of effect, but
before they -could reach us we were beyond
them, rushing madly up through the swarming
spheres until in a moment more the great circular
opening loomed just above us !

But suddenly there came wild cries from Fenton
and Kelsall and I saw that there had rushed sud-
denly across that opening a half-score of spheres
that hung now within it, barring our path ! Before
wfe could use our own rays upon those spheres, I
knew, their rays would have found us, so in that
mad instant I put all our lives on one last made
chance, jerked open the speed control to its ut-
most ! The next instant we were hurtling at utmost
speed straight toward those massed spheres, and in
another moment like an upward-driving meteor
had crashed squarely into them!

CHAPTER IX
The Doom of a World

T HE next moment there was an awful, reeling
shock that flung us all sidewise, a great grinding
of metal on metal, and then as I staggered up again I
saw that our sphere was through, had crashed up
through those barring spheres and was rising up
from the hidden world’s surface, into glowing light
of the vast molten shell about it! For chance had
made us strike just between two of those spheres,
and instead of annihilating ourselves in it, our
sphere’s curving metal sides had driven the two
spheres we hit apart, allowing us to drive in that
instant up between them, up through the great
opening!

“Straight up to the shaft !” Kelsall was screaming
now to me above the rush of winds and the great
humming of our sphere. “Straight up to the shaft,
Vance — they’re after us.”

For there below, now, mighty masses of spheres
were pouring up now from the gleaming surface
of the spinning hidden world, were pouring up
through the great opening through which we had
smashed and out of all the great wells that yawned
here and there across the surface of the world be-
neath us ! It was the gigantic invasion of the flesh-
things, surging up toward earth’s surface at last!
It was their great armada of conquest and out in
the van of those swiftly-rising masses of spheres
had leaped the great single black sphere of the
rulers, and behind it leaped the swiftest of the
spheres in pursuit of ourselves, all the countless
masses of their globes pouring up still from the
hidden world behind those foremost ones!

“They’re overtaking us!” Kelsall exclaimed as he
gazed tensely backward upon the rushing spheres
beneath us. “They’re coming closer !”

But already I had seen in a downward glance
that that was so. For our own sphere, battered as
it was by our wild crash upward through, the
swarming globes of the great hall, was not equal
in speed to these unharmed spheres that were rush-
ing up after us. And behind those foremost spheres,
which were fully five hundred in number, there

were rising swiftly also all the thousands upon thou-
sands of other globes that had been waiting in their
masses in the levels of the hidden world beneath !

Up — up — it seemed to me that my brain was
reeling as we drove upward with a tremendous
speed and those countless pursuers swiftly after
us.

Now, though, the dark opening of the great shaft
was coming into view above us, and now the great
glow of the molten fires in which that opening
yawned was beating fiercely upon our rushing
sphere, I opened the refrigerating controls. As we
came closer to the great surging currents of those
slow-flowing molten masses, I heard from them an
increasing roar of thunderous sound, the awful roar
of the flowing sea of molten rock. Then suddenly
there came a cry from Fenton, and as I glanced
back for an instant at that cry I saw yellow rays
stabbing up toward us from the pursuing five hun-
dred spheres close beneath us !

Those rays fell short, though by little enough,
for at yet the pursuing five hundred had not drawn
within the effective range of their great rays. Swift-
ly, though, they were coming closer to us still,
were overtaking us, racing upward toward that
roaring molten sea that loomed above us! Flight
and pursuit more strange than that there could
never have been, the flight of our single sphere and
its four human occupants, the titanic curving fiery
ocean of the molten inner surface of earth’s shell
hanging above us with its single dark round open-
ing; the five hundred foremost spheres of the flesh-
things rushing up close after us ; the great rectan-
gular masses of countless spheres that were rising
also, farther beneath ; and the swiftly-spinning hid-
den world gleaming there beneath them, hanging
and whirling there at earth’s heart!

I felt the last cold grip of despair closing upon
my heart in those instants as we rushed over the
last few thousand feet toward that round opening.
Before us now it was as though all the universe was
dissolved into a single curtain of dazzling, molten
fire suspended there above us, a giant flaming sea,
the awful roaring of which came to my ears with
stunning force in that moment. I knew, even in that
instant, that Kelsall was right, that escape was
impossible. The five hundred foremost spheres were
close beneath us, now, and though they had ceased
to loose their rays for the moment, hardly able to
perceive us against that awful glare from the fiery
ocean above, I knew that they were overhauling us
still and that once in the darkness of the shaft’s
upper portions they would blast us from existence
with their rays. Our last wild chance, our last
chance to reach earth’s surface once again, was
gone.

So in that single moment despair gripped me,
and with the passing of our last hope it was as
though something had snapped within me. I gave
utterance to a hoarse cry of defiance, gripped the
control-wheels in my hands, and then as our sphere
shot up into the shaft’s great dark opening at last,
that opening hardly to be glimpsed even in the
molten sea that roared about it, I brought the
sphere to a halt, swung it around so that it hung in
that opening motionless! So that it hung just inside
the shaft’s opening, the flaming molten sea flowing
and thundering all about it, facing the spheres that
were rushing still upward toward us from beneath !

“No escape for us!” I cried. “Then no escape it

THE HIDDEN WORLD

127

is — no warning for our world. But we’ll not meet
death fleeing up this shaft !”

“You’re going to ” began Kelsall, but my mad

shout cut him short.

“We’re going to hold these spheres and flcsh-things
out of this shaft while we live! We’re going to hold
them back from the earth’s surface!”

The Last Stand

T HERE was a single stunned silence and then
the shouts of Darrell, Kelsall and Fenton had
joined my own. Our sphere was hanging there at
the center of the great shaft’s opening, poised there
with all about us the thundering, roaring sea of
molten rock, whose awful glare beat fiercely upon
us, whose great heat was kept from us by the re-
frigerating controls! Five hundred feet in diameter
was that opening, so that the part of the opening
which must be guarded to prevent the sphere’s
from rushing upward was not large. Now as I
crouched there at our sphere’s controls, Kelsall and
Fenton tense at the window, Darrell hunched over
the ray-control, we saw that the five hundred fore-
most spheres beneath had glimpsed us halting there
in the shaft’s opening, and had themselves halted
beneath us, the black sphere of their rulers at their
head.

We could see their occupants peering upward,
knew that against the awful glare from about us
they could not more than gain a flashing glimpse of
our own sphere, and then as we hung there amid the
roaring molten fires of earth’s inner shell, there
seemed a great pause. Then suddenly at some swift
order the five hundred spheres had shifted swiftly
to a long column that was driving at full speed up
toward the shaft and our sphere inside it!

Up — up in an instant the spheres of that col-

umn’s head were looming great beneath us, but then
Darrell pressed swiftly upon the studs in his hands
and down from our sphere they stabbed swift yel-
low shafts of deadly power, that clove down through
the spheres of that uprushing column and with a
great detonation had shot scores of them into noth-
ingness ! As they did so, as the rays of the uprush-
ing ships had stabbed in answer toward ourselves,
blindlessly and aimlessly, almost, I had sent the
sphere leaping to one side of the shaft a little, and
from that new position our rays were driving paths
of instant annihilation down through their now-
huddled, disorganized mass! Before that awful fire
from an enemy whom they could scarcely glimpse,
a third of their five hundred spheres annihilated in
that moment by our down-leaping rays, they reeled
back from us shattered from the awful blow that we
had dealt them !

I heard the wild exultant cries of Kelsall and
Fenton, saw that the black sphere of the flesh-thing
rulers had driven to one side, that in the spheres
beneath was a great confusion. A moment more and
those great, far-stretching masses of spheres had
been halted beneath, holding their formation there
thousands of feet beneath us and the molten sea in
whose single opening we hung. Then up from those
spheres had rushed others to replace those we had
destroyed, and as these and the survivors of the
first attack formed again into a solid column, they
were hanging for a moment out of range beneath us
and then at full speed were leaping again up toward
us!

Up came that column of rushing spheres like the
first, its foremost spheres sending their yellow rays
stabbing up even before they came within range of
us. But again they were losing those rays blindly,
dazzled as they were by the awful glare from about
us, and the instant that they were within ray-range
our own deadly beams were stabbing down again
among them ! And as there came to us over the aw-
ful roar of the fires about us the detonations of our
striking rays, we could see scores upon scores of
the uprushing spheres flashing into nothingness be-
neath those rays! Could see their column reeling
aside as we thus stabbed down through it, other
scores of its ships driving in that wild moment into
the molten seas about our shaft and perishing there
instatly in bursts of flame.

“We’re holding them!” cried Darrell as that sec-
ond shattered column reeled downward from us.
They can’t get at us here in the shaft !”

“And the world below — look!” shouted Kelsall.
“Another great mass of its matter is breaking from
it!”

For at that moment, with another great grinding,
rending roar, a great mass of matter had shot out
from the spinning world far beneath, a great section
gouged suddenly to all seeming out of the gleaming
levels of that world and hurtling out, hurtling out
to strike with a giant concussion in the molten en-
circling shell not far from our great shaft’s opening,
making all the molten shell about us quiver with
that great shock. It was another warning, that the
doom of the hidden world was at hand within min-
utes, perhaps. And that sight, that doom that men-
aced now themselves, seemed to act like a great
spur of fear upon the massed spheres beneath, that
held all the flesh-things. For now as there flashed to
them some unseen order from the rulers’ black
sphere hanging to one side, scores, hundreds, of
those spheres had formed swiftly into another
mighty column and again were rushing with sui-
cidal fury up toward the opening in which we hung !

Thus, as they came up within ray-range of us
again with their few foremost spheres’ rays flash-
ing upward, our own rays had driven down again
among them, and stabbing down through the long
solid mass cut instant and mighty lanes of annihila-
tion through them! Still, though, heedless of the
death before them, the remaining spheres of that
column rushed up, hoping to catch us with one of
their wildly-whirling rays, but ever as they came
within range of us our deadly beams were annihilat-
ing them, our sphere leaping from side to side in
the shaft to avoid their own, and then with but a
scant score left of the hundreds of spheres of that
third column, those survivors were reeling down-
ward also!

For a third time our sphere had driven back their
attack, had sent their shattered column reeling back
down from the shaft they sought to enter, and
now as we hung there amid the thundering fires
Kelsall and Fenton and Darrell and I were shouting
like mad beings, were crying out in all the wild
excitement of battle that filled us! Beneath us we
could see the giant square masses of the thousands
of spheres hanging there still, out of range beneath
the molten sea that hung above them, and could
see a restless and panicky movement passing through
them as their third attack was thus all but annihil-
ated. Far to the right and left beneath us extended
their masses.

128

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

Now as we gazed downward tensely we saw
masses of those spheres rushing away to right and
left away from beneath our opening, a movement
that for the moment puzzled us. For as we gazed
down we saw that there was rising toward us no
swift succeeding attack, though the creatures be-
neath knew as well as we that but minutes remained
before the final cataclysm of the spinning world
beneath ! Moments thus we hung tensely there, the
great molten floods roaring still with never-ceasing
power about us, all our sphere having grown so
hot that almost its walls and controls seared our
hands. Then suddenly there shot from either side
just beneath those molten fires, just out of their
zone of intenser heat, a double mass of spheres,
driving thus suddenly into view from right and
left just beneath the opening in which we hung and
at the same instant letting their yellow beams of
death drive through the great glare toward us !

“The spheres 1” cried Kelsall in that instant.
“They’ve come toward us just beneath the molten
roof 1"

As they shot toward us it seemed that a wild storm
of brilliant beams were criss-crossing across that
opening in which we hung, but in the split-second
that those beams had stabbed toward us, the con-
trol-wheels had spun beneath my hands and our
sphere had leaped upward in the shaft a little in
the instant before the deadly rays could reach us !

Then in the following moment, as the masses of
spheres drove farther into the opening beneath us,
our own sphere’s rays were stabbing like light down
among among them, leaping in brilliant destruction
among them as they spun there in that mad mo-
ment! In a single flash, two-thirds of those spheres
had winked into nothingness beneath our leaping
rays, and in the next instant as the remaining
spheres drove wildly into the opening and swerved
from those rays they had ventured too close to the
roaring molten walls of living fire about us and had
seared and warped and burst and flamed in destruc-
tion. But straight up from beneath, and from either
side still, spheres upon scores of spheres were
whirling madly toward the opening of the shaft in
which we hung !

Flash! — flash! — flash !— over the roaring from all
about us there came the swift-succeeding detona-
tions of our brilliant rays as they swept down in
swift, dancing lanes of death through those masses
of spheres that strove to break in upon us ! Hanging
as we were a little up inside the great shaft’s open-
ing, they could not loose their rays up upon us until
they had burst up to that opening, from either side
or beneath. And in the instant that they did so,
as their masses of spheres appeared beneath us,
their occupants blinded by the awful glare from
about and above us, Darrell was sending out ter-
rific beams lancing down in lightning-like stabs,
sweeping through them in awful swathes of death,
mowing them from existence as they appeared.

Clinging there to the sphere’s controls in that
mad moment, I sent it dancing from side to side in
the great shaft, venturing almost to its death in its
swift short rushes toward the flaming seas of death
about us, leaping this way and that in the great
shaft to escape the rays that the spheres rushing up
from beneath loosed blindly up toward us! It
seemed in that moment impossible, almost, that we
four, that our single sphere, could thus hold back
the coutitless thousands beneath. Yet our rays

stabbed downward still, sweeping the opening just
beneath us clean of the gleaming spheres as they
rushed into it, while scores of others of those rush-
ing spheres were whirling in that wild moment to
dreadful death in the thundering fires around us!

Trapped

U P — up — and then came wild cheers again from
Darrell and the rest of us as the uprushing swarms
of spheres, recoiled from this death which we were
loosing upon them! They drew back, seemed to
mass swiftly their foremost globes into another
great column like those first ones that had been
hurled up against us, and then that column was
rushing up from their far-flung masses of waiting
spheres, toward us once more ! But as it did so there
came another distant, dull tremendous grinding
roar from far beneath and as we glanced down we
saw even in that moment another great section of
matter, another vast mass, breaking loose from the
spinning and deserted hidden world far beneath!

“Another warning — another warning of the hid-
den world’s end!” I cried. “It’s but minutes now
till that end comes !”

“Hold steady !” Darrell shouted. “The flesh-things
know it’s the end for all of them if they don’t get
up in the shaft before their world bursts — they’re
coming up again !”

And at the very instant that the column had
rushed up into ray-range of us one of its foremost
spheres had veered to one side; and as our rays
stabbed down and shattered the uprushing column,
that single sphere had used that instant to rush
blindly up into the glare of light and heat about
us, rushing blindly up at immense speed and whirl-
ing up the shaft past us, on up into the great shaft
above us!

In the next moment Darrell had sent a stab of
yellow death up into the shaft after that uprushing
sphere but before it could reach it that sphere had
shot up and out of sight, rushing madly up the shaft
above us !

“The hundred spheres at the shaft’s top!” yelled
Fenton suddenly. “It’s gone up to get those hundred
spheres — to bring them down upon us from above !”
Beneath us, the last of those attacking spheres
had drawn down, down among all their far-flung
waiting masses once more, hanging there with them
for a moment as though waiting. Long minutes we
waited, I knew, for the downrush of the hundred
spheres above, to crush us, to annihilate us, between
two simultaneous resistless rushes from above and
beneath ! There wag- a pause, a great pause of mo-
ments that seemed to our numbed senses hours,
a pause broken by a sudden swift forming of hun-
dreds of the countless spheres beneath into another
column, a column that like the others was gathering
there beneath us and then whirling up again toward
us! And as it flashed up toward us there came a
hoarse cry from Kelsall, gazing upward and as I
glanced up I made out, high in the dimmer glow of
the great shaft above us, little flashes of white
light ; little beams of white light that were growing
each instant brighter, beams of light that came from
a solid other column of spheres, of a hundred
spheres, that was thundering down the shaft upon
us from above!

Down from above, and upward from beneath,
rushed those two columns, the one above the near-
est, falling down upon us at nightmare speed. No

THE HIDDEN WORLD

129

rays it flashed lest they stab down past us and
destroy the column beneath, but it shot down upon
us in a solid mass that meant to smash into instant
annihilation by terrific impact! An instant more
meant the end, I knew, and then as that solid, narrow
column of spheres thundered down the great shaft’s
center down upon us, as the other column farther
beneath rushed up, I had made a decision, had
gripped the control-wheels in an iron grasp, and
then after an instant’s pause had sent our sphere
rushing sidewise like light from the path of the
down-thundering spheres above, had sent it whirl-
ing straight toward the molten, roaring flood of the
great shaft’s wall!

Then in an awful rending crash of metal upon
metal those two columns of spheres, thundering up
and down toward each other, had been changed in-
stantly into a sir^le great mass of wreckage that
spun there in the great shaft’s opening beneath us
and that then was swirling into the great shaft’s
molten sides and vanishing in bursts of flame in them
even as our own sphere leaped back to the shaft’s
center and away from those searing molten floods !
Our swift leap sidewise had saved us from the
downrushing hundred spheres from above. The
next moment, as though spurred at last to mad,
utterly heedless action by that spectacle, all the
thousands of spheres that hung beneath us there
were moving suddenly up toward us, up toward the
shaft !

Up — up — in a giant mass of close-gathered
spheres they were rising toward us, the black sphere
of their rulers placing themselves now at their head !
Purposefully, deliberately, more slowly, they were
coming upward now, in their last- great attack!
And then as we awaited them, as my fingers gripped
tensely the control-wheels, Darrell at the ray-con-
trol, Kelsall and Fenton at the window, there came
suddenly from Darrell a hoarse, wild cry !

“The ray-control!” he cried. “It’s useless — the
sphere’s ray-charges are exhausted !”

The sphere’s ray-charges exhausted! Our only
weapon gone, with the exhausting of those charges,
which even as we had known needed to be re-
charged, replenished, at frequent intervals ! It
seemed to me that all things that we had gone
through, all the things about us, the walls of molten
fire that roared about us, the great masses of
spheres that were rising deliberately toward us
from beneath, the white faces of Kelsall and Darrell
and Fenton that stared into my own, were whirling
in an insane kaleidoscope about me in that moment.
For with the exhausting of our rays, the passing of
our only weapon, had come the end — frhe end for us
and for the world of man above us !

Upward toward us, purposefully, grimly, those
far-flung sphere-masses were coming, and now were
almost within ray-range beneath us.

“But look! The rvorld beneath — breaking up!"

Breaking up! For even at that moment as the
masses of spheres had driven up grimly toward us,
as their upmost spheres had come within ray-range
of us, there had come from the hidden world spin-
ning far beneath them a colossal thunderous roar
of sound that drowned in its stupendous roll even
the roar of the fires about us ! And at the same mo-
ment we glimpsed the spinning, gleaming sphere of
the hidden world there beneath, that had spun at
earth’s heart since earth’s beginning, expanding.

swelling, and then breaking into colossal masses
of matter, that were whirling outward in all direc-
tions toward the molten floods of the earth’s en-
circling shell!

There beneath us those massed thousands of
spheres, holding within them all the flesh-thing
hordes, hovered in that moment, as though stunned,
stupefied, by the titanic cataclysm of their bursting
world, and then, the next instant, as I saw those
titanic masses of matter rushing upward toward us
as they were rushing outward toward all the en-
circling molten shell of earth, I gripped the control-
wheels and had sent our sphere flashing like light-
ning up the great shaft! And even as we leaped
up thus we had glimpsed in that flashing instant
tne colossal fragments of the burst hidden world
striking the massed spheres there beneath, annihi-
lating those spheres and crashing with their wreck-
age toward the molten encircling shell !

Upward like a darting ray of light our sphere shot
in that instant, up through the shaft at colossal,
drunken speed, as about us there came a stupendous
reeling shock — that shock that marked the cata-
clysmic death of the world within it! Then as I
clung there to the controls in that mad minute
there was a long, grinding roar about us, and the
shaft’s walls seemed to march inward upon our
upward-flashing sphere, as beneath that terrific
shock from within all earth swayed and quaked !

But as the shaft’s walls moved slowly, grindingly
toward us, as we flashed crazily up through the
awful roaring darkness in that moment between
them, I held open the speed-control with the last
of my strength, heard as though from an infinite
distance about me the hoarse cries of Darrell and
Kelsall and Fenton, over the grinding, closing roar
about us. And then abruptly, just as the great earth-
mass about the shaft buckled about us, closed com-
pletely in about us, we had shot up into the open
air! Had shot up into the darkness of night, with
above us the brilliant stars of heaven! And as I
halted our uprushing sphere, as we swayed there,
gazing downward, we saw that there in the long
triangular clearing the great opening of the shaft,
with a final dull great roar, was vanishing, closing,
even as earth quivered still about it !

The way to that vast space inside earth where
had spun the hidden world was closed ! Closed for-
ever by the last titanic cataclysm in which that hid-
den world and all its spheres and all its great flesh-
creature hordes had gone together to death !

It was not until many minutes later that our
sphere came at last down to earth’s surface. In
those minutes we had hung there, gazing downward
as though stunned, gazing downward toward that
great sunken circle of earth which alone remained
in the clearing to mark the place of the great shaft.
Then as I sent the sphere downward, as it came to
rest, its humming ceasing, the door was clanging
open and we stepped forth, Kelsall and Darrell and
Fenton and myself, stumbling out onto the surface
of the long clearing to stand there, gazing slowly
about us.

Far above us stretched the great curtain of the
brilliant tropical stars, and in the white light that
fell from them all about us seemed unchanged, with
the great shaft gone and the hundred spheres that
( Continued on page 135)

Here he proudly exhibited what looked like a black Ducoed Presto-Lite gas cylinder,
except that heavy brackets extended from each end at right angles to its axis.

130

THE GRAVITATIONAL DEFLECTOR

“TFS curious, Charlie, but did you ever wonder

J[^ why we never trace to a final conclusion
the little incidents of our daily lives? You
know if we did we might be able, with foresight
and inductive logic, to trace the developments to
their ultimate effect. When you look back at any
incident you can see obviously an inevitable chain
of circumstances. You must wonder sometimes
why the human brain refuses to
project the outcome when the
original events occur.”

Many a monologue along this
line have I heard from my friend,

Tom Lee. Lee’s ideas were al-
ways interesting ; often they were
startling. Yet his theory coin-
cided with Poe’s in that he be-
lieved that to an intelligence to
whom was open all the complex-
ity of the algebraic processes, the
ultimate resolution of any prob-
lem was possible; was possible,
that is to say, given the time nec-
essary for the required computa-
tion.

And lacking the time for the
necessary computation of the out-
come of a tri-
vial event, Tom
was taken away
from me, from
his work, and
in fact from the
pleasant world
in which we
had been com-
panions for so
many years.

Looking
back, I realize
that I should
have foreseen
the eventful ca-
tastrophe. It is
now so clear
that no other
result could
have been expected
tion of titanic forces.

The initial incident, and the remark thereby oc-
casioned, which opened the tragic train of events,
took place when Lee and I were motoring over the
Mohawk Trail in New England. We were, at the
time, running up one of the lesser hills soon after
leaving the town of Charlemont. Traveling at a
good rate of speed we rounded a turn to find 5ur-
selves right behind a monster truck, loaded with
crushed rock. The truck had stopped to cool its
motor, and, as is often the case with trucks, had
chosen a position which made passing impossible.

“Tom,” I said, after we had induced the driver
out of the way, “It’s a good thing we were going
up hill or I could not have stopped without a

131

smash.”

“Now that’s what I call a real interestin’ remark,
Charlie,” Lee replied. “It opens up deucedly in-
teresting lines of thought that have previously es-
caped me.”

Lee is one of these slow spoken Yankees, a real
New Englander, with a trick of slipping in an Eng-
lish slang word, or expression, when conversing.

He is none of your quick spoken,
incisive scientists, although his
mind is lightning fast. (Odd
how I still say “He is,” for
Thomas Lee is gone, and many
a fellowship of scientists and
delvers into the unknown mourns
with me the loss of a man far
ahead of his time in many ways,
and a true friend.)

“Just what line of thoughts?”
I asked.

“The possibilities suggested by
your successfully stopping this
car before it collided with the tail
board of that truck,” Lee replied.

Thus was the idea born. Like
most new thoughts it was the re-
sult of a simple and natural inci-
dent of a suffi-
ciently striking
nature to force
attention.

We said lit-
tle as we sped
along. I re-
mained quiet,
for I knew
Lee’s moods,
and realized
that he was
deep in some
line of thought.
It was not until
we had passed
over the Hoo-
sac Tunnel and
drawn up to en-
joy the view
beside the great bronze Elk that looks forever over
the mountain ranges that Lee began to give me a
glimpse of what was in his mind.

“Now Charlie”, he said, “One of the reasons that
we get along so well together is that you are not
a trained scientist. You have just enough scientific
education to enable you to follow me, if I use rea-
sonably simple .expressions, instead of entering
into technical argument with me.”

“What then?” I asked.

“Simply this; you have a more than ordinary
understanding of motor cars. In fact you are quite,
widely known as an automotive expert. That is
the high hat way of saying that you are a little
better than the high class factory inspector, tester,
trouble shooter, designer, and internal combustion

HARRV D. PARKER

S TORIES of a fourth dimension are always of great in-
terest to us. Mathematicians can prove today that
there is such a thing as a fourth dimension. The
trouble with most fourth dimension stories, however, is that
it is difficult to follow them and that the author as a rule,
presupposes that the reader is well-versed in the higher
dimensions, which, as a rule, he is not.

The author of the present story has given us some excel-
lent examples and illustrations, which makes it compara-
tively easy for us to follow his reasoning, and we believe,
incidentally, that he has helped a great deal to make the
fourth dimension better understood by the average layman.
And while, for practical purposes, it may be many centuries
before we can actually demonstrate the fourth dimension,
yet whatever is done to enlarge our fund of knowledge along
this direction should be welcomed by everyone interested
in science.

from the attempted manipula-

132

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

engineer, combined in one person. And you and I
my lad, are going to develop an absolutely new
brake.”

“Very good, only I don’t see how come,” I re-
plied. “Dozens of good minds have gone to jelly
trying the same thing, and I’ve no great desire to
do likewise.”

“We won’t do likewise,” said he. “Why do they
fail? Because they try to go forward without any
steps. They stick to friction, to converting power
into heat, or to pumping, using up energy in com-
pressing operations. They lack the vision to cut
away from the old ideas. We will harness an en-
tirely different form of power than has ever been
used for braking.”

“A new form of power?” I exclaimed. “What
new power?”

“Not a new power, Charlie, a different power,”
Tom said. “Consider now — what two forces are
everywhere available upon this earth?”

“Why,” I said, “Let’s see — there’s heat, and elec-
tricity, and — ”

“Wait a minute,” Lee cut in. “I said are every-
where available. Also I said forces. Now heat and
electricity are limited in many ways in many places
on this globe. And too, I beg to point out that
there is a jolly lot of difference between energy and
force.”

“I give up,” I replied. “Don’t ask me riddles, tell
me what you have in your mind.”

“It’s like this,” Tom answered. “Energy, — that
is, to say, paralleling your classification which I
interrupted, such as light rays, stray electric cur-
rents, solar heat, and so on are not comparable with
the two forces that I have in mind. These are the
force of gravity, and centrifugal force from the rota-
tion of the earth.”

“But,” I said, “there should be no centrifugal
force at a given moment at either true pole, — and
you said everywhere present, Tom.”

“A touch. A distinct touch, old bean,” laughed
Tom. “You are right. Centrifugal force is, at a
given instant, absent at each true pole. However,
since it’s gravity that I have in mind, no harm is
done to the idea, as yet. Now consider, Charlie,
we have a force of known power, everywhere pres-
ent on this world, which with the crude exceptions
of counterweights, inclined planes, and percussion
devices, is largely unused. Now suppose we find
a way to apply this force to the braking of motor
cars and other vehicles, what then?

“You will say, and properly, that this force tends
to act along the lines of the earth’s radii. But sup-
pose we bend this force, as a light ray is bent by
a mirror, or a prism. Having found our means for
bending the lines of gravitational attraction, it can
be regulated by varying the angle of bend, vert-
ical being zero power, and horizontal being 100%
effective. Do you follow me, Charlie?”

“Yes,” I said. All we have to do is devise a
way to bend it. How simple.”

“Now don’t be sarcastic, old chap,” Tom replied.
“The principle is the thing. If the theory is sound,

it should not be too difficult to work out the details.
Let’s go on now. I'll think about it enroute and
at Albany tonight I will do a little figuring.”

The Plot Thickens

E ARLY the following morning saw us enroute
for Plattsburg. Beyond a few words at break-
fast no reference had been made to the conversa-
tion of the day before. True, Lee had sat up
half the night at his “figuring” but it was not
until we were well on the way to Saratoga that he
opened the subject.

“Charlie,” Tom said suddenly, “I really worked
hard last night and we have progressed. I have
devised the method necessary for bending what I
may call the lines of gravitational force. I have
not worked out the mechanism necessary for doing
this, as yet, but the method is fairly easy. All that
is necessary is to interpose the fourth dimension.
Or to state it in a different way, to pass the line of
force through an area of the fourth dimension in
which the bending control itself will be located.”
“Of course,” I replied, "I knew there was a catch
in it. All we have to do is use the fourth dimen-
sion.”

“Now do be serious, Charlie,” Tom answered.
“While the fourth dimension is not by any means
fully explored, still we do know a lot more about
it than the ‘man in the street’ realizes. As far as
that goes, we know something about the next five
additional dimensions, the ones that extend beyond
the fourth, the E, F, G, H and I dimensions.”
“Stop, Tom,” I cried, “that’s too much. I can’t
get this fourth dimension stuff clear, so for pity’s
sake don’t addle me with some extra ones.”
“Heaven knows I’ve tried to make the fourth
dimension reasonably clear to you,” Tom said.
“I’ve talked cubicular extensions to you a dozen
times. Try this tack for a change. It should help
a lot in building up an image in your mind. Since
you can’t visualize it, I will now prove to you that
you are, at this very moment, actually carrying in
one of your pockets, not one but two beautiful ex-
amples of cross sections of fourth dimensional
solids.”

“That’s too much ; you can’t do it, and you know
you can’t,” I said. “And I’ll just bet you one hun-
dred good iron men, that you can’t.”

“I won’t take your bet, Charlie,” Tom replied.
“It’s not sporting to bet on a sure thing. But I’ll
show you. Let your mind trickle back to your
school days. Consider the ‘point’ of your geometry
lessons, as crudely represented by a dot. What is
that dot but the cross section of a line? Now con-
sider the ‘line’ in its turn. It is the cross section
of a plane. A ‘plane’ is the cross section of a solid.
That is to say the geometrical ‘point’ is the cross
section of a one dimensional thing, a line, which
has ‘A’ dimension only. The line is the cross sec-
tion of a plane having two dimensions, ‘A’ and
‘B.’ The plane is the cross section of a solid hav-
ing three dimensions, ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C.’ There-

THE GRAVITATIONAL DEFLECTOR

133

fore the two little ivory dice in your lower right
hand vest pocket, old thing, are true cross sections
of a fourth dimensional, having ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and
the difficult ‘D’ dimension.”

“That’s very neat,” I said. “And I’m glad that I
didn’t have my bet taken up, but just how do you
use the thing after it’s tame?”

“For our needs, Charlie, we do this,” was Lee’s
answer. “We know that the same basic laws apply
to the A, B and C dimensionals, and we can there-
fore assume, until proved wrong, that they will ap-
ply and operate in the D dimension. We can there-
fore use the law of Harmonic Motion as a control
for our angle variations. That, as you know, is
to say that the velocity of a mass subjected to an
initial impulse and free to move in space, whose
resultant direction is changed, varies in proportion
to the angle of such change in direction. You can
follow that all right for it is a law which you recog-
nize in gas engine design.

“Now we will effect our change in the direction
of the force of gravity at a point in the D dimension,
and will vary the angle of the change in direction
to be proportionate to the velocity of the motor
car.”

“Whal; you mean,” I said, “If I understand you
correctly, is, in simple English, that you will hitch
the pull of gravity behind a car so that it will act
in a horizontal direction opposite to the direc-
tion in which the car is traveling, and that, as the
car slows up, you will change the angle of pull
towards the vertical until, at the instant that the
car stops, the force will be at its normal once more,
following its usual ‘up and down’ path?”

“Exactly, Charlie,” Lee agreed. “We will have
a smooth stopping force that should bring a car to
a standstill almost in an instant, from any speed,
and, in addition, with absolutely no discomfort to
the passengers, or disarrangement to the load, since
there will be no forward momentum lag, as the con-
tents of the vehicle will be acted on equally with
the vehicle itself, by the bent pull of gravity.”

“But,” I asked, “If you can successfully bend the
lines of gravitational attraction to stop a car by
having the pull operate from behind, Tom, why
can’t you put one of the gadgets in front to pull the
car, and so do away with the motor altogether?”

“Great Duke of Wellington,” Lee ejaculated,
“Charlie, my lad, you’ve hit it on the head. That’s
just another instance of two minds being better
than one; especially when mine is the well known
one-track brand and yours has the ability to wan-
der all around an idea even though the idea is not al-
ways clearly understood.

“Already I can picture a light, graceful, vehicle,
without the present day hood full of noisy, smelly
machinery; free from the really crude mechanical
devices for transmitting motor power to the rear
axle, moving swiftly, quietly, safely over the high-
ways. I say that knocks the idea of cars driven
by motors, drawing their electric current from wire-
less power transmitters all flat. I know a chap who
has been working for years to perfect a wireless

power transmitter for just that use. Won’t he turn
a beautiful pea-green; my hat.”

“That’s all right as a conception of the future,” I
replied. “What bothers me is how can such a de-
vice be made?”

Lee seemed not to hear me. At any rate his next
remark did not enlighten me further regarding the
actual method of construction that he proposed to
follow in the fabrication of his force controller.

"And we will not only bend from the up and
down normal pull to horizontal, Charlie, it will be
easy to make a 180 ° distortion of the lines of force
by using two instruments. We will work them in
pairs like return reflection mirrors.

“Then we will have done it. We will have ac-
complished the long sought for neutralization of
gravity. A mass subjected to a properly controlled
force of this nature will be without weight.

“You know, Charlie, there are a few mighty big
scientific minds who hold that some method for nul-
lifying weight was known to the Ancients. The
stones of the so-called Temple of the Sun at Baal-
bek could hardly be lifted by any mechanism known
today. The general idea in that direction has been
the introduction of a screen, opaque to gravitation,
under the mass in question. H. G. Wells calls this
hypothetical screen substance ‘Cavorite’ if my
memory is not at fault. We on the other hand will
be able to operate our force from above, which has
decided advantages.

“When we reach Plattsburg, as you know, I am
going over to my place at St. Albans Bay. I shall
at once get to work to develop our D dimensional
director for the lines of gravitational force. On
your way down from Montreal you were planning
to visit me. If I am ready before you come, I will
wire you at the Mount Royal and you can come
ahead of your schedule. I can assure you that it
will be well worth it.”

Ready for the Teat

N O doubt you, the reader of this record, have
detected the error in premise which was to
bring about the final astounding result. How
it escaped Lee I cannot understand. Perhaps, at
the time, he realized in which direction danger lay
and planned later to construct a protection for it,
which plan was later overlooked in his eagerness to
get results.

I, myself, should have spotted it instantly, I think,
had I not for many years fallen into the habit of
letting Lee do my thinking for me, while we were
together. That is a natural fault for one usually
accepts the statements of an expert without delving
very deeply into a subject on which the other is a
recognized authority. Tom never seemed to be
wrong, and I had long ago fallen into the easy meth-
od of assuming that he was therefore always right.

About two weeks after we had parted at Platts-
burgh I was speeding across the lake in Lee’s ex-
press cruiser, enroute to his summer workshop on
St. Albans Bay, as a result of a wire telling me that

134

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

he was ready to make the first actual test of his
device, and that he needed my assistance.

“What I want you to do first, Charlie,” he said,
“is to figure out the best place to attach the thing
to an automobile. That is part of your end of this
attempt to make another theory into a reality.

"I have succeeded in making the control ; I have
named it the gravitational deflector, which will
bend the lines of force through the D dimension all
right, and a neat little thing it is too. Also I jolly
well added an automatic compensator, which acts
like a governor, and tilts the primary deflector back
in proportion as the car loses momentum. Thus
the application of the force remains in constant
proportion to velocity. There is also a secondary
deflector which can be geared to operate with the
primary. This we will use in our experiments in
propulsion, and in the neutralization of weight.”

“How does it work 7 * was my very natural ques-
tion.

“Well, Charlie,” Lee replied. “Don’t forget that
we do not yet actually know if it will work. I have
not tested it in any way, keeping that until you
could be present. My computations all indicate
that it will operate exactly as we have planned.

“You remember our last conversation about the
A, B, C and D dimensions? Yes? Well you will
recall that a line is the cross section of a plane.
Now to make a plane into a line all that Is necessary
is to pass the plane through the C dimension. That
is to say, tilt the plane through its C dimension arc
of travel until it is edgeways to your eyes, — fore-
shortening, — see ?

"In the device that I have finished I use for each
deflector a solid mounted on orbicular trunnions,
which projections enable me to tilt the solid
through its D dimension arc of travel. I am acting
on the assumption reached by several minds that
there is one of the laws known to the A, B, and C
dimensions which does not act precisely in the same
way in the D dimension, and that is the law of
gravity. If this assumption is correct, the line of
gravitational force can be reflected to a new direc-
tion from the fourth dimension.

“I think also that this solid could be arranged
to become energized by motion. If so, when at
rest it would have no power even though rotated
entirely through the D space. This would be a
better factor of safety, while operating for braking,
than the tilting governor.

“There are, as I said, in reality, a pair of these
deflectors, for what I want to do is to experiment
with the development of our thoughts on forward
motion and lifting. I have simply combined both
instruments into one holder.”

“How big is it, and what does it weigh ?” I asked.

“The entire apparatus is in a cylindrical case,”
Tom replied. “It is 24 inches long, 10 inches in
diameter, weighs five pounds three ounces, and must
be mounted cross ways of the car, like a gasoline
tank, on a plane that will give the best braking re-
sults. The point of location I am leaving to you,
since I am sure that there is a ‘best place’ to set it.

and while we are all used to the feel of a car whose
resistance to forward motion is taking place at and
below the axle line, I want you to determine what
will be best when we cut loose from that conception
of applying braking force.”

At Tom’s summer place we went directly to his
combined workshop and laboratory, as we had
lunched while crossing Lake Champlain. Here he
proudly exhibited what looked much like a black
Ducoed Presto-Lite gas cylinder, except, that from
each end, very heavy brackets extended, at right
angles to its axis, for attaching the device to the
rear of an automobile. There was also a wire cable
lead for connection with the conventional foot brake
pedal by means of which the deflector was to be
actuated. One side of the cylinder was conspicu-
ously marked TOP*.

What Happened to Tom

T OM informed me that his computations
showed that the device concentrated the lines
of force from an area larger than the dimen-
sions of the cylinder, depending on the height that
the deflector was above the ground, and on the
mass towards which the lines of force were bent,
acting much as a lens gathers and concentrates
light rays. Its power was therefore to a certain
extent free from the limitations of mass. Lee was
sure that it would stop a locomotive almost in-
stantly at any speed, if the full force were applied
by deflecting the attraction of gravity the full 90°
from the vertical.

For this reason I decided that such a pull could
only be applied with safety to one part of the car,
that is to say to the chassis frame. Accordingly,
in an hcrar, I drilled the channels and had bolted
the brackets to them. I led the operating cable to
the foot brake pedal and attached it. The pedals I
disconnected from the regular brake drum mechan-
ism, since, as I pointed out to Tom, if the force of
gravity refused to perform, the hand brake would
suffice to stop his light roadster. At last every-
thing was ready for the first test.

I have always been thankful that Tom’s assistant,
Lynn Roe, was present at the trial of the gravita-
tional deflector. I have read more than one ac-
count of the uncomfortable predicament in which
the sole survivor of an experiment has found him-
self through lack of testimony corroborating his
own.

Tom insisted on driving alone. I am sure that
he did this, not because he feared any mischance,
for he was too sure of his figures, but because he
wanted to be the first human being to feel the force
of gravity operating from behind him as well as
from below.

"I will go around the drive,” Lee said, as he
stepped on the starter, indicating the sweeping cir-
cular drive before his summer home, “gradually
accelerating until I pass where you are standing.
I presume that I will then be traveling at about 40
miles an hour. Just after passing you I will come
to that line,” and Tom indicated a length of white

THE GRAVITATIONAL DEFLECTOR

135

tennis court marking tape that he and Roe had
placed across the drive. “At that point I will oper-
ate the D dimensional device which should bring
the car to a stop, smoothly and instantaneously.
If I skid, the lawn on both sides of the drive at that
point is smooth, free from trees, and as there are
no roadside ditches, no harm should result. You
and Roe must stay exactly where you are. Here
goes.”

And he was off.

I presume that the drive was some three hundred
yards around, but it seemed to me ages (and Roe
has since told me that he had the same feeling) be-
fore Tom made the circuit. As he straightened out
at the end of the curve and came back down the
straight section of the road towards us, I would
estimate that he was going at about 50 miles an
hour. He was smiling as he passed us and rushed
on to the tape line, at which he had indicated that
he would apply the power of the new brake. He
reached the spot, — and was gone!

Yes, that’s exactly what I do mean. Gone. For
one instant the speeding roadster was rushing along
the drive. The next split second it had vanished.
Gone, gone completely; utterly. The small dust
cloud which had swirled along behind Lee’s car as
he came down the road drifted slowly off over the
velvet lawn; but the roadster and Lee had disap-
peared as completely as though they had dissolved.

We have not seen either Lee, or his car, since.
No result has come from the international search
for the missing man of science. Roe and I rushed
to the spot where the car had last been visible. The

tire marks showed clear (and without any indica-
tion of skid whatever) right up to the tape line,
and then stopped.

Between the ends of the wheel marks the road
was slightly hollowed as though some of the loose
surface material had been removed with a rake.
But that was absolutely all.

That is what I meant when I said that in retro-
spect one wonders why no thought was given to an
outcome now so obvious to me, although I must
admit that Roe does not agree with my conclusions.

His idea is that when Lee pressed down on the
foot pedal thereby actuating his device that he, and
the car, fell within what he terms a “shadow” area
from the fourth dimension: that he actually entered
the D dimension, car and all.

I do not agree, for still clearly I hear Tom’s voice
at the time that he propounded to me, “There are
two forces.” I am convinced that what actually
occurred was this; when Lee tilted his infernal
device he operated the desired deflection of the lines
of gravity successfully, but that in so doing he neu-
tralized the down pull in some way. Perhaps his
secondary deflector became operative unintention-
ally. Perhaps the neutralization was the resultant
of the angle of application of the distorted force
lines. And the result from this, whatever the pre-
cise cause, was that Lee and his roadster shot from
the surface of the earth at a tangent, — a living ball
thrown into space, at a velocity of almost two and
a half miles a second, by the titanic arm of cen-
trifugal force.

The End

The Hidden World

( Continued from page 129)

had guarded it gone also, to death far below. The
long, triangular clearing, the two swift-flowing
rivers on either side, the dark mass of the jungle
stretching far away about us, our tent and boat
there at the clearing’s edge — all seemed the same
as on that night, two days before, when we had
waited there for the appearance of the fourth light-
shaft, little dreaming what great horror lay behind
the mystery we had come to solve.

Two days ! It seemed incredible, as I stood there
with Darrell and Fenton and Kelsall, that into that
interval had been crowded all that we had seen and
done. The appearance of the fourth light-column
and the blasting upward of the great shaft ; the up-
rush of spheres and flesh-creatures and their capture
of Kelsall and Fenton ; the hours of tortured waiting
for Darrell and myself, and our mad venture down
the shaft to the hidden world; our strange adven-
tures in that stranger world and our rescue of our
friends and flight up from it; our mad battle hold-
ing the shaft and that last great cataclysm that
had annihilated the hidden world and all its crea-
tures; these things seemed to me the events of
years, rather than days or hours.

“Two days!” Darrell’s low exclamation, beside

me, was echoing my own thoughts. “And what
we’ve been through in them — !”

Fenton was nodding. “Two days — and in them
we’ve penetrated to another world, and have seen
that world go to death.”

“It all was real?” I cried. “We did go down the
shaft — did find you two there in the hidden world?”
“It was real,” said Kelsall, slowly, thoughtfully.
“The horror that rose toward our world — the des-
tiny that halted that horror at the last. Real — yes.”
“And this sphere — real,” Darrell said. “And the
things that our world can learn from it, gain from
it, when it knows at last from what it escaped — .”
He was silent, and in that moment we all were
silent, Darrell and Kelsall and Fenton and I stand-
ing there in the dim starlight at the clearing’s cen-
ter, with strange emotions clutching at our hearts.
Standing there in a dark little group, with behind
us the gleaming shape of the great sphere. Standing
there, unspeaking and unmoving, as though unable
yet to comprehend, to believe in, that miracle which
had held back the doom that the creatures of the
hidden world had prepared for the world of man,
and which had loosed instead upon the hidden world
itself and all its creatures a greater, swifter doom.

The End

136

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The Reader Speaks

Due to the flood of letters on Science
Wonder Stories from our readers we
have been unable to print as many as we
would wish in the regular monthly issues.
We therefore take pleasure in printing
herewith many letters that we want to
call to the attention of our readers.

In future issues of Science Wonder
Quarterly, however, only letters that re-
fer to stories published in the Quarterly
will be printed. All editorial communica-
tions regarding the Quarterly should be
addressed to Editor, Science Wonder
Quarterly.

A New Method of Evaluation

Editor, Science Wonder Quarterly:

Although I am only twelve years old, I
have taken a delight in reading the mag-
azines you have published for almost the
last four years.

This is my idea of Science Wonder
Stories :

Take every word that means excellent
out of the largest dictionary in the worldj
multiply those words by the number of
seconds in two thousand centuries, and
add to that amount the number of stars
in the heavens and the answer will give
you a very slight idea of what I think of
your magazine.

I have read the “Science Fiction
Series” and think them great. I can as-
sure any reader of “our” magazine that
he is missing a rare treat if he does not
send for them.

I am very pleased to see you are going
to publish a Quarterly. I hope the
stories in it are as good as the ones in
the Monthly.

What is the matter with Edgar Rice
Burroughs? He hasn’t written for “our”
magazine for several years.

“The Book Reviews,” “The Reader
Speaks,” “Science News of the Month,”
“The Questionnaire,” type of the stories
and name of the book all meet with my
approval.

And as for Paul’s pictures. When bet-
ter pictures are drawn Paul will draw
them.

I think the idea of printing the au-
thors’ pictures is a fine idea as it allows
us to become better acquainted with
them.

Why was there no picture of Mr. Kel-
ler at the head of “The Human Termites”
in the September issue?

Come on now readers, let’s give
Science Wonder Stories a big yell.
HIP, HIP, HIP, HURRA YYYYYY.

Forrest Ackerman,

San Francisco, Cal.

(The method of evaluating our maga-
zines strains our mathematical capacities
somewhat. We know that it means
"good” ; we leave it to one of our math-
ematical experts to give us the correct
answers. Dr. Keller’s picture will appear
hereafter. Due to the special presentation
of the first installment no room could be
found for his picture. — Editor).

Pro and Con on Atheism

Editor, Science Wonder Quarterly:
Having now read four issues of your
magazine Science Wonder Stories I
thought I would write to you.

Your last issue (September) is the
best one, in my mind. The cover is best
of all the ones on the magazines. Pre-
viously I have been .against the lurid
covers, but lately I have decided that
after all, the cover only gives us a true
idea of the makeup of the stories. If
our friends are misled by interpreting
the contents as trash, we must explain
( Continued on page 137)

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SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

137

The Reader Speaks

(Contimud from page 136 )

that the stories and the aim of the mag-
azine are otherwise.

By all means get more material like
“The Cubic City.” Many readers would
readily contradict my statement that
“The Cubic City” is the best story since
some of the same type were printed in
your first magazine (of science fiction)
back in 1927.

Maybe no one else can understand
what I mean by that "type,” bat stories
like "The Star of Dead Love,” by Gray ;
“The Machine Man of Ardathia,” by
Flagg; “The Fourth Dimension Roller
Press,” by Bob Olsen, etc., are of that
type.

Somehow or another they take your
mind from the uncanny thoughts of
eternity, the indefinite extension of the
universe, etc. The morbid thoughts are
brought up by stories like "The Talking
Brain,” by Hasta; “The Telepathic
Pickup,” by Sargent ; "The Plattner
Story,” by Wells, and numerous others.
They all leave an everlasting fear in me,
although such stories as ghost stories
do not affect me at all.

If religion must come up I will add a
bit. (Religion sure brought some hot
arguments in the Science Correspondence
Club.) I think that religion, ethics, etc.,
will be taken over by science m the fu-
ture the same as philosophy and sociology
have been.

L. E. Foltz, of my native state, in
Science Wonder Stories, page 378,
says that an infidel either was one before
reading science, or else was unobservant.
I was not an atheist before reading
science fiction (first m your magazine in
1927), and I don't think I am unob-
servant.

In the first place, the only reason that
men have ever believed in^a God and so
on, is that their superstitious answer to
the question of "Where did our universe
come from?” (asked because of their in-
stinctive want to know why, how, and
what) attributed it to a higher up, and
because no one can “disprove” the exist-
ence of a God, only by reason, which does
not have to be true.

You may say to a believer, “How did
God get here?”

They will say, “He never was created.
He always has been here.”

Just the same way, why not say that
nature, matter, and energy, light, elec-
tricity, etc., which are all equivalent to
matter, have always been here, and not
go around the stump by saying that a
Spirit has always been here, and that he
made matter?

Let me ask all of you who argue
against the atheists this:

If a babe, was raised up, isolated from
our present religious ideas in every way,
and then taught evolution, astrophysics,
astronomy, physics, etc., and then taught
all matter has always been here (of
course, at times in form of energy, light,
and electricity), would this individual
ever be anything but an atheist? Now
answer truly. He would not believe in
eternal life in spirit form, because science
teaches that without a brain there is no
thought. And no science even considers
this foolish, metaphysical stuff about
spirits, or souls. So much for this.

Instead of running twe halves of two
different serials, couldn’t you publish one
complete long story in each issue, still
making 96 pages?

Or, do serials really help get sub-
scribers who want to read “the rest of
their story”?

( Continued on page 138)

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138

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The Reader Speaks

( Continued from page 137)

In closing I might add that the Sep-
tember issue of Science Wonder
Stories is the only science fiction issue
that ever contained ail non-dry, and A1
stories. See if you get any kicks on
them. I’ll bet you don’t, unless the
kicks are concerning some idea in one of
the stories which is a scientific impossi-
bility.

Irville Woodward,
Newcastle, Ind.

(We are glad to note this reader’s ap-
preciation of “The Cubic City”. Louis
Tucker is a delightful writer and joves
to poke fun at our mechanical civiliza-
tion. He is just as necessary to us, to
restore and balance our point of view,
as those who seriously want to push us
forward along our present road and
those who want to hold us back. Ridicule
has, in history, provoked as many changes
as the most serious and logically com-
plete criticisms. We leave the discus-
sion on atheism for our readers to fight
out. — Editor).

On the Silver Sea

Editor, Science Wonder Quarterly:

I want to compliment you on your new
magazine, Science Wonder Stories. You
have certainly started off with a fine as-
sortment of stories. I am particularly in-
terested in Captain Noordung’s Prob-
lems of Space Flying” and I am glad to
read that he is to continue with his
articles.

As regards the suggested department
of Scientific-Technical questions, I am
heartily in favor of it and I believe I can
make use of it.

I found Jack Williamson’s “Alien In-
telligence” to be about the most interest-
ing story in your first two issues. I still
don’t understand just what the liquid in
the “Silver Lake” was supposed to be.
I wish the author hadn’t allowed his
hero to run out of “gas” in getting back
to earth. The excitement he could have
caused with the machine as well as de-
termining the components of the “silver
liquid” would have made an interesting
sequel.

“The Moon Beasts,” by William P.
Locke, offers an excellent chance for a
sequel. Do you think Mr. Locke will
write one? It is an interesting story and
brings up the old possibility, which has
been much discussed, of life on the moon.

Dr. David H. Keller’s stories are al-
ways extremely interesting and human
and there is always a moral behind each
one. I hope he succeeds in his apparent
purpose. Will we have some more of His
“Taine the Detective” stories?

Mr. Repp’s “Radium Pool” promises
to be an interesting story. He is an in-
teresting writer.

Before closing I want to mention that
I have also read the first editions of Air
Wonder Stories and find it a fitting sister
magazine to Science Wonder Stories.
Victor MacClure’s “Ark of the Cove-
nant” is the best story there. I get more
helpful information from your “Science
News” department and “Aviation News”
department than any other place. School
isn’t in session now but I find good use
for this information while it is.

Wayne Me Adam,
Pasadena, Cal.

(On Page 240 of the August issue of
Science Wonder Stories the scientist
Austen says in the “Alien Intelligence,”
“You know that lightning in the air
causes a union of nitrogen and oxygen to
foqn nitrous and nitric acids which may
( Continued on page 139)

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The Reader Speaks

{Continued from page 138)

later release their energy in the explo-
sion of gunpowder and nitroglycerine. In
much the same way the force that forms
the silver fluid utilizes the photochemical
effect of sunlight to build up a complex
molecule containing oxygen, nitrogen and
the inert gases of the helium group. It
is very unstable and may be disrupted
with great release of energy”. We be-
lieve this answers Mr. McAdam’s ques-
tion.

We have asked Mr. Locke for a sequel
to the “Moon Beasts” and have hopes of
getting one soon. — Editor ).

No More Commonplace Than
Archimedes !

Editor , Science Wonder Quarterly:

Having never written you as to my
views on Science Wonder Stories, I
crave to say a word or two about our
“pet.”

I am very much pleased with the cover
designs by Artist Paul, especially the
August issue. As to the design in the
July issue, I think it was perfectly proper.
That editorial was no more common-
place than Archimedes’ idea to lift the
earth. I’ll wager if someone would write
a story about that no one would throw
brickbats at Paul’s design.

Please stop publishing H. G. Wells —
his "Diamond Maker” was an insult to
our "Pet.” “The Reign of the Ray”
was simply terribfe. Please scratch
those two writers off your payroll. "The
Eternal Man” had more room for im-
provement than any other one. "Science
News of the Month” don’t go over with
me — a pure waste of space. You should
use this space for more letters from read-
ers. I enjoy them as much as I do the
stories.

Am very sorry to hear of the death of
Mr. Garrett P. Serviss as he was one of
my favorite authors. Indeed, he was. the
best science fiction writer, of his time.
Please reprint some of his stories, es-
pecially “The Conquest of Man” and “A
Columbus of Space.”

Why not some stories by Edgar Rice
Burroughs? He’s a master of unusual
science fiction.

Please do not change the form, of your
magazine in any way, although, the paper
of the second issue is far superior to that
of the first. Leave it as it is. The size
is exactly right. I am handing my issues
in volumes of three and it makes them of
just the right , size. If you change now
my forthcoming library of Science
Wonder Stories will go "Hooey.”

More stories by James P. Marshall
and Ed. Earl Repp, please, and you might
top this off with a few by Ray Cum-
mings.

“Dave” Hedrick,
Fincastle, Va.

(The criticism against the July issue
was not addressed, we believe, to the edi-
torial but to the cover. It was the cover
that was deemed commonplace. And as
we wrote in reply to the criticism, “com-
monplace” is the last thing we want any
of our material to be. However, we are
glad to see that that opinion was not
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The reprint question, we wish Mr. Hed-
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Editor ).

( Continued on page 141)

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The Reader Speaks

( Continued from page 139)

Attention, Astronomy Lovers!

Editor, Science Wonder Quarterly:

In a letter you received from Joseph
Fox he mentioned his love for Astron-
omy. Why doesn’t he send to Mr. Leon
Campbell of Harvard College Observa-
tory, Boston, Mass., and ask to join the
American Association of Variable Star
Observers. They give out monthly no-
tices to the members and every year at
the annual meeting you have a chance of
meeting some of the world’s greatest as-
tronomers.

C. E. Furness’ book “An Introduction
to the Study of Variable Stars,” would
be a good book for a beginner in the var-
iable line. I have already decided to be-
come an astronomer. Why doesn’t Mr.
Fox write to me? I am younger than
he, being only fourteen.

I have no criticism against the maga-
zine ; it has no faults.

Donald McGlenn,
Chicago, 111.

(We are addressing this prominently
to the attention of all astronomy lovers.
Astronomy is a fascinating science and
young Mr. McGlenn is to be congratu-
lated on choosing it so early. — Editor .)

Wants Science Club

Editor, Science Wonder Quarterly:

I have been a constant reader of dif-
ferent scientific publications issued by
you during the last three years, and dur-
ing this time I have noticed that many
readers have expressed their desire to
see a scientific club of some sort formed.

I, for one, would like to hear a few
suggestions from those interested, and
perhaps we could organize a club that
would not only serve to increase public
interest in science, but would also turn
out to be a real educating and interest-
ing organization to all amateur scientists,
and others interested in the scientific fu-
ture of the earth.

My suggestion is that you, Mr. Editor,
form such a club for the benefit of the
renders of your wonderful publications,
and also add a couple of pages to all fu-
ture issues of Science Wonder Stories,
devoting the space to the use of the mem-
bers of the club, through which they
could exchange suggestions, tell of their
experiments along different scientific
lines and put before the other members
and readers their pet scientific problems.

I am sure that once this subject is
brought up in “The Reader Speaks” col-
umns, we will find many suggestions will
be offered.

Edward E. Chappelow,
Chicago, 111.

(This letter is from one of our most
promising writers, the author of “The
Planet’s Air Master,” in Air Wonder
Stories, and “In Two Worlds,” pub-
lished in Science Wonder Stories.

What Mr. Chappelow suggests is an
inspirational idea. We have been con-
sidering the Science Club problem for
some time. As Mr. Chappelow is no
doubt aware, there exists at present the
Science Correspondence Club, which in-
cludes many of the features he would
wish to incorporate.

What we would wish to have is a real
expression of opinion from our readers
on the question, “Do they want it?” If
so they should certainly have it. — Editor).

( Continued on page 142)

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The Reader Speaks

( Continued from page 141)

He Wants Reprints

Editor, Science Wonder Quarterly:

I was somewhat disappointed in the
first four issues of Science Wonder
Stories. It isn’t the paper. The paper
is fair. The illustrations were all right,
although a few more would be appre-
ciated. Really, there is nothing the mat-
ter with them except for one thing. None
had a single reprint. In Air Wonder
Stories we are getting “The Ark of the
Covenant” and I hope to see “The War
In the Air,” by H. G. Wells, forthcom-
ing presently. Won’t you please give us
more and more reprints? Here are sev-
eral that are wanted badly: “Tarrano

the Conqueror,” “The Man on the
Meteor,” “The Fire People,” “The Girl
In the Golden Atom,” and the short
stories having “Tubby” as their hero (?).
These stories, as you know, are all by
Cummings. We all like him, so please
print several of his tales.

“The Blind _ Spot,” by Homer Eon
Flint and Austin Halil What a story!
Please print it.

I have not read “The Mastodon Milk
Man,” by Savage, but have heard about
it and I am positive that we (the read-
ers) would enjoy it immensely.

And now, my dear editor, I know that
you would like to make us happy, so
please give us from the old bunch of
originals, several new stories (for a
while) and give us reprints.

So many of our readers are skeptics.
Why not make a new “Believe It or
Not?” One page, or even a half page,
would be plenty. Many are kicking
about the space given over to the
“Forum,” “The Problems of Space Fly-
ing,” Questionnaire and Readers’ Letters.
But who would object to a second “Be-
lieve It or Not?”

Hoping that Science Wonder, Air
Wonder, and Radio-Craft will be suc-
cesses, I remain,

Isidor Manyon,

Jersey City, N. J.

(Altho Mr. Manyon’s suggestion about *
a new column is appreciated, we must de-
cline the use of it at present We have
already a number of extra features _ in
our magazines, the number of which
could be extended almost indefinitely.
The question of reprints is one that is
being* considered and we promise _ our
readers some interesting news on it in
the near future. — Editor).

praise for the “Human Termites” if the
next installment is equal to the first, and
I’m sure it will be. It was so real and
serious in its nature that I had to stop
several times and smile at myself for al-
most believing that the story was true in
its entirety.

I would enjoy reading a sequel to “The
Radium Pool.” I think Mr. Repp has
better material for a sequel than the
“Radium Pool” itself.

J. Orville Buser,
Bradley, 111.

(Louis Tucker did make a slight inac-
curacy when he stated that no part was
more than two miles from any other. Go-
ing along the edges of the cube it is pos-
sible for a person to travel six miles
from one extreme point to another. How-
ever, we believe that the conditions of
travel even for the extreme distance
would be much more enjoyable than the
present mode of transportation that char-
acterizes our large cities. — Editor).

McDowd’s Defense Not

Necessary

Editor,- Science Wonder Quarterly:

I have just been reading Mr. Mc-
Dowd’s defense of “The Marble Virgin.”
I wish to make it clear to you that it was
not needed as far as I am concerned. I
think it was a good story, full of science,
and I certainly want Mr' McDowd to
write a sequel.

P. Wicks,

Telkwa, B. C., Canada.
(We print this letter to give our read-
ers the other side of the “Marble Virgin”
controversy. Mr- Wicks speaks for a
great number of readers. — Editor.)

A Longer Walk in “The Cubic
City”

Editor, Science Wonder Quarterly:

I would like to offer a little criticism
on Louis Tucker’s story “The Cubic
City,” wherein he states that in a cubic
city two miles in height, width, and
length, no point is farther than two miles
from any other point. I wish to contra-
dict this as the distance from a point at
any corner on the top floor to the cor-
ner directly below on the main floor is
two miles, and from the same starting
point to any other point on the main floor
is greater than two miles. If travel is
made only in vertical and horizontal di-
rections and not diagonally, then the
greatest distance would be six miles.
This would be the distance from any
corner of the city to any corner directly
opposite and on a line diagonally through
the exact center of the city. Neverthe-
less I enjoyed the story very much.

I don’t think you’ll find anything but

It Shall Never Be Again

Editor, Science Wonder Quarterly:

This letter is a brickbat, and with this
warning I hope that you will not throw
it aside without reading further. For I
subscribed for your magazine as soon as
I received your letter several months ago,
and feel justified in making a complaint.
Although I have noticed the same thing
I am complaining about several times be-
fore, I am just beginning to wonder if
the stories you publish are really edited.

All this leads up to my subject — Low-
brow English! Mr. Gernsback, a man
of your editing experience should know
the correct use of “I” and “me”.

The story that aroused my ire was
“The Radium Pool,” by Ed Earl Repp.
On several occasions Repp has used the
words “carried Sands and I”. The mis-
take is quite obvious to any student of
English. Of course the author should
know his grammar before he submits a
manuscript, but the proof reader should
not be so much asleep as to let a glaring
mistake like this past him.

After so egotistically telling you how to
run your magazine, let me say that other-
wise I enjoy the stories immensely.

Bob Emmett,

San Francisco, Cal.

(The editors acknowledge that such an
error occurred in “The Radium Pool.”
Under ordinary circumstances we would
bow our heads and say “It Shall Never
Be Again.” But in this case there is a
reason. All that the author, editor and
proofreader were trying to do was to con-
vey the local color to the speech of the
miner. If he had said “Sands and me,”
it would have been too grammatical for a
“desert rat.” — Editor.)

( Continued on page 143)

SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

143

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The Reader Speaks

( Continued from page 142)

An Objector Converted

Editor, Science Wonder Quarterly:

I’ll make my complaints first and
throw flowers afterwards.

I noticed in the September issue that
you are binding the magazine with just
one wire staple. By doing this the mag-
azine is harder to handle. Please go back
to the two staple binding.

I will not mind the “Science Questions
and Answers” department if you do not
make it any longer than the one in Air
Wonder Stories. I noticed that "Avia-
tion News” is shorter than “Science News
of the Month.” It, of course, does not
take up so much room and leaves more
space for fiction. Besides having more
pages for fiction. Air Wonder Stories
has more on each page than Science
Wonder Stories. Why aren’t the two
magazines alike? I would like to see
Science Wonder Stories like Ant Won-
der Stories.

I was quite undecided on the best story
in the September issue of Science Won-
der Stories, but I finally picked “The
Onslaught from Venus,” by Frank
Phillips; “The Radium Pool,” by Ed
Earl Repp took second place and the first
part of “The Human Termites,” by
David H. Keller, M.D., third plat*. I
hope to see more stories like “The Cubic
city.” How about an interplanetary ser-
ial? Why not put out an interplanetary
stories magazine?

I hope to see a sequel to “The Ra-
dium Pool.” It certainly deserves one.

I like the idea of starting a new se-
rial in the same issue that the old one
ends in. Keep it up.

Jack Darrow,
Chicago, 111.

(We are very glad to note the conclu-
sion of Mr. Darrow, who formerly ob-
jected to the inclusion of the “Questions
and Answers” and the “Science News.”
We are sure that he will come to enjoy
them as do most of our readers. — Editor .)

The Effect of the “Human
Termites”

Editor, Science Wonder Quarterly:

I congratulate you on your wonderful
magazine, Science Wonder Stories and
its sister magazine, Air Wonder Stories,
of which I have read several copies.
Your September issue had several good
stories in it. I list them in order to
my preference :

“The Human Termites.”

“The Onslaught From Venus.”

“The Radium Pool.”

“The Problems of Space Flying.”

“The Cubic City.”

“The Human Termites” is great, and
gives you some thought. That story got
my goat. I went to bed expecting my
bed-covers to be eaten up.

All the stories were good except “The
Cubic City.” It was too funny for a
Science Wonder story. I just couldn’t
get It.

Like many other readers, more inter-
planetary stories. Have Edgar Rice Bur-
roughs write some stories.

Henry Stoschus,
Easton, Pa.

(We are truly sorry that the effect of
the “Human Termites” was so pro-
nounced. However, if a good many of
those who should be roused to combatting
the insect menace could read "The Hu-
man Termites” and feel as Mr. Stoschus
did, the menace could be conquered once
for all. So Dr. Keller’s work has a
great educational value as well as a tre-
mendous imaginative appeal. — Editor.)

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g Gentlemen:

I am enclosing herewith $ for which

_ please -send me prepaid books which I have
f marked with an X:

J [ ] 1 THE GIRL FROM MARS
I [ ] 2 THE THOUGHT PROJECTOR
g [ ] 3 AN ADVENTURE IN VENUS
g [ ] 4 WHEN THE SUN WENT OUT
g [ ] 5 THE BRAIN OF THE PLANET

1 [ ] G WHEN THE MOOtf FELL

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I City

Brand New Series

We are presenting to our readers the first six numbers
of our new Science Fiction Stories. These small books,
illustrated by artist Paul, are printed on a good grade
of paper and are sold at a low price, due to the large
amount put out. New ones will be issued from time
to time.

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Every book contains but a single story by a
well-known science fiction author. The type
is large and well-readable, and the size of
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Below you will find a list of the first
six books. Your choice of five books
for 50c or the entire six books for
60c prepaid. Not less than five
books sold.

1— THE GIRL FROM MARS
By Jack Williamson and Miles J.
Breuer

Suppose some one from an-
other planet landed on our
earth. What would happen?

“The Girl from Mars,” is an
adventure of a Martian visi-
tor, with all the strange
situations that one can
imagine in such an event.

2— THE THOUGHT
PROJECTOR
By David H. Keller, M.D.

The power of suggestion on the human mind forms
the basis of “The Thought Projector.” Ideas re-
peated over and over exert a great force on
us. They penetrate our minds and give us ideas
that we often think are our own.

3— AN ADVENTURE I,N VENUS
By R. Michelmore

Aviation five hundred or a thousand years hence
will probably be something beyond most of our
present conceptions. Journeys to other planets
may well become a commonplace as it does m
the present story.

4— WHEN THE SUN WENT OUT
By Leslie Stone

The sun is said to be slowly cooling, and
generations many thousands of years hence
must face the problem of how their heat
and light is to be provided when the sun’s
end does come. In this thrilling story,
Leslie Stone answers that question.

6— WHEN THE MOON FELL

By Charles H. Colladay

Collisions between celestial bodies of
any size have not occurred within his-
torical times. But such an event is not an
impossibility. In fact many astronomers be-
lieve that our solar system came into being
by such a collision. Suppose 'the moon were
to crash into the earth. What would happen?

5— THE BRAIN OF THE
PLANET

By Lilith Lorraine

If a super-intelligence could have
its wisdom poured into our brains,
what a different world we might
have. Miss Lorraine poses such a
problem and works out the answer
in an astounding manner.

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*My Inkograph Is tbo smoothest writing In- m
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SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY

X

H SKAC.U SS

BOV- TIIJX .It,

jggjg Vims stt

SEXUAL

EDUCATION

SERIES

TEN VOLUMES. LIBRARY SIZE.

BOUND IN FINE RED CLOTH. GOLD STAMPED

160

PAGES

PCD

| VOLUME

1600

PAGES

By DAVID H. KELLER, M.D.

Assistant Superintendent, Western State Hos-
pital, Bolivar, Tenn.

Ten Volumes tor the
Usual Price of One Book

Dr. Keller was chosen by the publishers of these
volumes as being one of the few physicians in
America who could write on so delicate a subject
in language that even a child could understand.
Heretofore, educational sex books have been writ-
ten by professionals, usually in such technical
language that the non-professional reader could
not understand it. Consequently, the Sexual Edu-
cation Series can be read by anyone; as a mat-
ter of fact, much of the subject matter has been
written for young people.

While writing these books Dr. Keller wrote a
long letter to the publishers, part of which fol-
lows:

"My idea is to write in simple language,
in a conversational or lecture style; or to
use the language of my wife, ’just as you
talk to us 1’ My wife is a college graduate

and taught eight years in the High Schools of
the South. One daughter is preparing to
study medicine and the other is just about
to graduate from our local High School, and
I consider their advice and opinion as a very
good index of the average mentality of our
expected readers. My ultimate aim is to make
the world a little better place to live in by
educating the masses along the lines which
have previously been inaccessible to them. In
writing, I am going to keep in mind THAT
WE WANT TO HELP FOLKS TO BE-
COME HAPPIER."

Most of the misery and suffering in human
life can be directly attributed to sex misinforma-
tion. Dr. Keller, in these books, offers a solution
for this evil as well as for' other and perhaps
greater evils. The author knows his subject as
few other physicians in the country know it, and
as a well-known author, he is able to write in
such a way that there is nothing offensive, even
for the most unsophisticated of young girls.

Parents have not as yet arrived at the state

ONLY

$ 2.98

THE SET

where they can be perfectly frank in matters of
sex with their children. But henceforth, Dr. Kel-
ler's valuable books can be safely entrusted to
all intelligent young people. The older genera-
tion, themselves, will find much of value in tho
series.

There is little question but that these books
will become famous, will blaze a new trail. They
will be read and reread for more thorough com-
prehension of the subject matter involved. The
Sexual Educational Series gives you facts and
knowledge contained in the highest type of liter-
ature, with the exception that it is written down
to the understanding of the every-day man and
woman, girl and boy. The excellent anatomical
drawings, which are profusely distributed through
these books, are so mechanically treated that they
will never arouse the sensibilities of even the
greatest prude, yet, they are an education in them-
selves. Dr. Keller has torn the veil of mystery
from sex matters and presented to the American
public the true facts of sexual life. He has de-
bunked sex .

These book* are printed in brand new type, the
subject matter has never been published before.
A number of volumes are profusely illustrated
with fine anatomical drawings. The size of each
volume is 4 " — just right for your pocket.

Special grade of egg-shell paper used. Each volume
has 160 pages, 1600 pages in all. GOLD STAMPED.
Fill in the coupon

today. Regardless |Lff A ¥ ¥

of your age you
cannot afford to be
without these valu-
able books. Every
B(et sent on ap-
proval. If you are
not entirely satis-
fied, return them,
and your money
will be refunded.

YOU ARE THE
SOLE JUDGE.

In

The

Partial

CONTENTS

BOOK 1

Sex and Family Through the Age»

Beginning of Life. — The Primitive Home. —
Natural Selection. — Varieties of Married Life. — ■
The Prostitute. — Women's Sexual Position Be-
fore Christ.— Woman’s Sexual Position in Europe
and America. — Feminine Independence.' — The

Pursuit of Happiness.— The Universal Panacea.

BOOK 2

The Sexual Education of the
Young Man

Father and Son.— Relation of the Young Man
to Society.— The Anatomy of the Young Man.—
The Sexual Physiology of the Young Man.—
Hygiene of the Sexual Life. — Normal Viewpoint
of Young Man.— Prostitution.— The Cost of Im-
morality.— The Question of Disease.— What a
Young Man Should Know About Women. —
Youth Friendships.— A Living Programme.

BOOK 3

The Sexual Education of the
Young Woman

Mother and Daughter.— History of the Young
Girl— The Girl’s Obligations to Society.— ^ ™
Anatomy of the Young Girl.— Physiology of the
Young Girl.— Psychology of the Young GirL—
Hygiene of the Young Girl.— The Question of
Prostitution.— The Cost of Immorality.--^The
Working Girl.— What a Young Girl Should
Know About Men.

BOOK 4

Love — Courtship — Marriage

The Awakening of Love. — The Growth of liovo—
Love Education. — Natural Selection. — The
Feminine Viewpoint of Engagement.— The Physi-
cal Preparation for Marriage. — Education
Happiness. — Adjustments of Marriage. —
B&hy in the Home. — The Perpetual Honeymoon.

BOOK 5

Companionate Marriage
Birth Control
Divorce

The Restlessness of Society.— The Dawn of 4s-
llglon. — Marriage by Purchase.— The Relation of
Marriage to tho State.— The Sexual Marrloge.-
The Companionate Marriage.— Birth Control-
The Question of Divorce. — Hie Rights of Child-
hood.— The Happy Marriage.

BOOK 6

Mother and Baby

What Is a Baby Worth !-The Physiology of
Pregnancy.— Preparing for the TZ Pr ,5P , riI

tions for the Confinement — The Birth of the
Baby.— The First Two Weeks.— Training the
Baby.— The Sick Baby — The Sexual Education
of the Child.— The Father of His Baby.

BOOK 7

Sexual Disease and Abnormalities
of Adult Life

The Cause of Unhappiness.— Syphilis.— Gonor-
rhea — Abortion. — Autoerotlclsm.— The Homosex-
ual Life — The Dark Corners of Life.— Types of
Erotic Life. — Impouncy in the Man.— Sterility.
— Celibacy in the Adult Male. — Celibacy In the
Adult Female.— The Normal Sex Life.

BOOK 8

Sexual Life of Men and Women
After Forty

The Dangerous Age. — The Middle Aged Woman.
—The Middle Aged Man.— The Middle Aged
Celibate.— Widow and Widower— Middle Age
and Divorce. — Diseases of Middle Life. — The
Fountain of Youth.— Secret of Youth.

BOOK 9

The Disease and Problems of
Old Age

Old Age and It» Problems. — The Past Treat-
ment of the Aged.— Senile Decay.— The .Sexeal
Life In the Aged. — The Art of Prolonging
Youth.— Physical Disease of the Aged.— Celibacy
in the Aged.— Neglect of the Aged.— Growing
Old Gracefully.

BOOK 10

Sex and Society

Relation of the Individual to Society.— Man’s
Normal Relation to Society. — The Legal Relation
of the Sexes. — Illegal Sexual Relations Between
Sexes. — Abnormal Sexual Life. — Abnormal Re-
lations Between Parent and Child. — The Ab-
normal Sex Life of Siblings. — Eroticism and
Modern Society. — Drug Addiction and Society. —
The Feebleminded and Society. — The Psycho-
pathic Personalities.-^-Sterilization and Segre-
gation.

T. H .!x

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